Another night of vandalism but this time Portland police kettle 100 and arrest 13

Last night, after a large group of Antifa goons marched around the city smashing windows, police surrounded all 100 of them and would only release them one at a time after photographing their faces. Some in the group refused and 13 people were arrested.

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“Those that were being detained were identified and photographed, as part of a criminal investigation, before being released,” PPB said in a release early Saturday. “Some refused to comply and locked arms together in an effort to interfere with the investigation. Officers escorted them away and they were arrested.”

PPB said officers found several items left behind by people inside the perimeter, including a crowbar, hammers, bear spray, slugging weapon with rocks, high impact slingshot, and knives.

“As the event unfolded, groups formed on the outside and physically challenged officers. Some threw rocks and full cans of beer at officers,” PPB said. “Officers deployed some OC spray and one impact munition.”

The tactic the police used last night is known as kettling and is very unpopular with the far left because it works. Today OPB has a story painting it as a violation of civil rights:

The controversial tactic, known as kettling, has been at the center of multiple lawsuits and is broadly criticized by civil rights advocates as dangerous and so indiscriminate as to violate civil rights…

Controversy over kettling won’t be new for Portland city leaders. In 2017, the Portland Police Bureau detained at least 389 people during protests between the far-right group Patriot Prayer and counterprotesters. That event led to two federal civil rights lawsuits alleging the officers made no attempt to distinguish between protesters, bystanders, and press.

Ultimately, the courts found that PPB had not violated the protesters’ civil rights.

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Sad trombone. No one’s civil rights were violated last night because there isn’t a right to march around and break windows. This tactic works and should be used more often when Antifa goons start breaking things. Former NY Times editor Sarah Jeong was not happy about Antifa being stopped in their tracks:

Anyway, there’s lots of video from last night. Let’s start by noting that this was the second night of vandalism in a row. As Ed pointed out yesterday, on Thursday night a group had smashed windows outside the federal courthouse on the same day the barriers were taken down. So Friday it was boarded back up:

With the windows at the courthouse either broken out or protected, Antifa moved on from that target and spent last night marching through the Pearl District.

Police followed them.

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Within a matter of minutes the smashing of windows began and police quickly moved in:

Meanwhile, the people on the inside of this kettle were stunned. Police haven’t used this tactic in years in Portland and Antifa didn’t know what to do when they suddenly couldn’t get their way.

https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370606617314553857

Their courage failed:

https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370607427276525568

And failed some more:

https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370613888937385984

Demands to release them were not met:

Police began removing people one by one:

https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370624157537366017

Eventually the few remaining people settled on a tactic. They sat down and refused to leave.

https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370635473413017601

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https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370638141980209153

Police are not arguing with people:

https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370644259670401029

And that’s about it. As mentioned above, about 100 were detained and 13 were arrested. Portland police posted photos of the weapons the group quickly dropped in the street when they realized they were in danger of being arrested:

Officers discovered numerous items left behind by people inside the perimeter, including a crowbar, hammers, bear spray, slugging weapon with rocks, high impact slingshot, and knives (photos).

Here’s some of the damage that prompted the kettling:

This tactic worked and Portland police should do it more often the moment these goon squads start breaking things. Finally, here’s a local news report on the action last night.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | December 16, 2024
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