As Portland’s police chief released a podcast Thursday saying the city has become a magnet for demonstrators brawling over ideological differences and asking the community not to condone their violence, representatives of the right-wing Proud Boys sent their own statement to city officials and the media.
They claimed they’re not coming to Portland to cause problems but to “expose’’ the tactics of anti-fascists.
Joe Biggs, a Florida resident and a former staffer of the right-wing site Infowars who is organizing Portland’s Aug. 17 “End to Domestic Terrorism’’ demonstration, said in an interview that he’s now telling everybody “to tone it down. Don’t go too far. Let’s show up. Let’s be adult human beings.’’
In the next breath, Biggs added, “Now if someone on the other side provokes us, then, yeah, we’re going to defend ourselves.’’
His attempt at moderation followed weeks of taunts on his social media accounts, saying that “we are coming for antifa,’’, exhortations for his followers to “get their guns’’ and declaring that the antifa movement is “better dead than red.’’
The latest flurry of messages and counter-messages reflects the battle for the hearts and minds of protesters but also the stakes that the rally represents in the greater national debate amid the rise of violence tied to political speech and what constitutes domestic terrorism.
In the last few days, Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as police commissioner, also has gone on video and given interviews, pledging to do what it takes to keep the city safe during the demonstration and urging protesters not to bring their "hate and violence here.''
Biggs and Enrique Tarrio of Miami, national chair of the Proud Boys, have called on like-minded people from around the country to come to Portland as a show of force against antifa. They condemn a June 29 attack against conservative writer Andy Ngo by black-clad demonstrators and back a U.S. Senate resolution to label antifa members as “domestic terrorists.” No one has been arrested in Ngo’s attack, though police said they continue to investigate it.
The Proud Boys describe themselves as “Western chauvinists” who oppose Islam, feminism and liberal politics. Members of the group have routinely brawled with left-wing activists in the streets of Portland, New York and elsewhere.
The Portland-based Rose City Antifa is the oldest group of its kind in the country and espouses disruption and sometimes violence to counter those who promote racist and bigoted views.
The Proud Boys plan to assemble by the fountain at Tom McCall Waterfront Park and also march in the city, Tarrio said in an interview. They haven’t obtained any permits to do so.
Joe Biggs writes on a Facebook account, "Tone done rhetoric,'' after noting that the FBI had just visited him in Florida.Screen shot
“Antifa has run amok for far too long,'' Tarrio said. "We feel like the mayor in Portland has let this fester and grown within his own city. We’re coming to expose that.’’
Wheeler has dismissed that allegation. "The fact of the matter is I have been unequivocal and clear that this isn’t about people’s political beliefs, this is about behavior,'' he said earlier in the week. "There are some situations where the police need to have adequate resources on hand in order to be able to go into a situation safely. Their job is to enforce the law, not be martyrs.''
Rose City Antifa is advertising its “Rose City Grows Resistance’’ counter-protest on Aug. 17, saying on its Facebook page: “The insurgent right has been laying siege to our city for two years and now the institutional right is throwing their support behind this brutal campaign.”
It has put out a call to “the people of Portland to come out to let the fascists on the streets and in the White House know we will continue to defend our community from the rise of fascism!”
Biggs and Tarrio said that they’ve been in contact with Portland police and have in recent days urged backers not to bring weapons to the Portland protest, particularly in the wake of last weekend’s two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed 31 people and left dozens more wounded.
“After the last rally in Portland, where Andy Ngo and others were attacked, we all got heated,’’ Biggs said in the statement released to Portland’s mayor, city commissioners and the media. “ Then these two last shootings happened. I think it’s time we cool down. I don’t want to see people get hurt.’’
Biggs has had his Twitter and Facebook accounts suspended because of earlier threatening messages. Tarrio took the helm of Proud Boys in November. He was convicted in federal court in 2013 of reselling stolen medical equipment on line and sentenced to a year and a half in prison. He was present at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, at rallies in Portland last year and most recently in Washington, D.C. His social media posts, in which he denigrated transgender people and an African American woman, have been banned as well.
“Everybody knows not to bring weapons, not to bring gear like we’re going into battle,’’ Biggs said in an interview. But he said he’s OK’d people to wear vests as protective gear.
In her podcast, the police chief said she feels as if Portland has been “unjustly thrust into the middle of a political arena’’ and hopes elected officials citywide and across the state will speak out against violent demonstrations, regardless of what side is involved. Portland police have faced criticism that police have looked the other way when right-wing demonstrators have engaged in violence on city streets.
While Portland police were understaffed for the June 29 protests, the bureau won’t be on Aug. 17, she said. It’s a message that Outlaw and the mayor have given throughout the week in interviews and social media.
The bureau has reached out to other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to bolster its numbers, ordered no days off for its officers and promised to take swift and quick action to curb any violence that erupts while working to keep dueling protesters separated., Outlaw said.
Officers will use force, she reiterated, if protesters fail to follow their orders to disperse or follow police directions on where to move if violence breaks out.
“When you choose to stay; that’s a crime,” she said in an interview. “We don’t have an ability to discern at that point who’s considering themselves peaceful and who’s going to stick around and continue to engage in fighting and brawling.’’
When police give a direction, a lawful order, and protesters don’t follow the order, “the only way for us to get you to comply is we’ll use force, and that’s what will happen on Aug. 17,’’ she said.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.