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‘I just had flashbacks': Portland looks to avoid repeat of 2020 protests

Yahoo

8 hours ago

Yahoo

‘I just had flashbacks': Portland looks to avoid repeat of 2020 protests

Before Los Angeles, there was Portland, Oregon. For more than 170 days in 2020, thousands of Portlanders gathered to protest police violence. They lay peacefully in the middle of the city's most iconic bridge and marched with a local NBA star — but also tore down statues and looted shops. Police launched tear gas canisters into crowds, while the 750 Department of Homeland Security agents President Donald Trump dispatched to the city without the approval of local or state officials grabbed protesters at night and loaded them into unmarked vehicles. As anti-Trump protests ramp up — with major rallies taking place across the country on Saturday — Portland officials are anxious to avoid a repeat of 2020. 'The Portland Police and then the feds overreacting in the way that they did, I think it brought even more people out because it was such injustice,' said Ali King, a veteran social organizer in Portland who worked for now-retired Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) at the time. 'When I saw the LA thing, I just had flashbacks. I did feel some PTSD.' The impact of those protests and riots on Portland was massive. Voters completely overhauled the city's government structure, the county elected a more tough-on-crime district attorney, and the police department reformed the way it deals with protesters. Five years later and 1000 miles away, President Trump again deployed federal officers into a city beset by protests against the will of state and local officials. Those recent events in Los Angeles have put Portland back on edge. Protests this week in the Rose City have been largely peaceful, but as tensions grow, officials hope policy changes will be enough to avoid a repeat of 2020's violence and prevent federal involvement. 'We've changed so much since 2020,' Mayor Keith Wilson, a trucking company owner and political outsider who was elected in 2024 on a progressive platform of fixing the city's homeless problem and improving public safety, told POLITICO earlier this week. 'But federal overreach is something we're concerned about, and we're prepared to sue.' A review conducted by an independent monitor after the 2020 protests found failings by the city and the police department ranging from poor communication with the public to inadequate training in deescalation tactics and insufficient guidance about when and how to use force. These problems, the review found, led to mistrust between the public and the police and escalated — rather than deescalated — the situation. In the wake of that review and a handful of lawsuits brought against the police department for actions taken during the 2020 protests, significant changes were made to the city's policing policies. Wilson and Portland Police Chief Bob Day told POLITICO those changes include reducing use of tear gas and militarized gear, overhauling the department's rapid response team and establishing liaison officers to build relationships with community organizers. Members of the department also attended training in Cincinnati and London to learn from experts in deescalation and crowd control, Day added. 'We're looking at large-scale events much differently than we've done in the past,' said Day, a former deputy chief who was called out of retirement in 2023 to be interim chief by then-mayor Ted Wheeler. 'What you want to bring, from a public safety standpoint, is you're not adding to the chaos.' Most protests in Portland since these changes were instituted have been peaceful, but Sergeant Aaron Schmautz, president of Portland's police union, says the city hasn't faced a situation like 2020 that would put the new tactics to the test. 'There's just a lot of nervousness right now,' he said. Portland is not alone in the Northwest. Tensions are also growing in Seattle and Spokane, neighboring Washington's two largest cities, in light of anti-ICE protests and the federal government's response in Los Angeles. Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said Tuesday he will do anything in his power to protect Seattleites 'from anyone who comes to the city with the intention to hurt them or inhibit their First Amendment rights,' and was willing to risk arrest to do so. Then on Wednesday, at least eight demonstrators were arrested by Seattle police after a dumpster was set on fire. In Spokane, meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Lisa Brown instituted a curfew after more than 30 people, including a former city council president, were arrested during protests. King said protesters in Portland are willing to put their bodies in the way to stop ICE actions, like physically blocking agents' path or distracting them. And she says trust between protesters and the Portland Police Bureau is still really low. But she added that the community has been having its own conversations about remaining peaceful and deescalating within the ranks at protests. Terrence Hayes, a formerly incarcerated local community organizer who is on the city's criminal justice commission and supports giving the police more resources, said the city's mood has changed since 2020. The months of violence, tear gas, looting and arrests by federal officers are something residents are not excited to revisit. 'I just don't think we're looking for that fight,' Hayes said. 'If ICE start pushing certain lanes, of course people are going to stand up and protest — but I don't think they're going to be inner-city destructive.' King added that 'if somebody is kidnapping an innocent person off the streets … [we] might have to physically get involved.' Over the last week, there have been protests across the city, including outside the local ICE office. The vast majority have been peaceful, Schmautz said, with minor instances of violence or destructive behavior like arson. The department has arrested about 13 people over the last week. For a city so renowned for its protests that it was once called 'Little Beirut' by a staffer for George H.W. Bush (a moniker a local band proudly took as their own), the last week has been notably quiet. Day said this week shows the new policies are already helping deescalate. But 2025 is very different from 2020 in a key way: Then, Portlanders were protesting their own police department. Now, the target is the federal immigration apparatus. The police department will not assist ICE, Day explained, but needs to prevent violence or lawbreaking all the same. He calls the gray area for local police 'a very complex, nuanced challenge.' The chief gave two examples: Earlier this week, Portland Police removed debris piled by protesters that was preventing ICE contractors from entering a parking lot — receiving criticism from city residents for doing so. At the time, the department contends, the contractors were not engaged in enforcement actions and officers believed that moving the debris would reduce tensions. But on another day, police watched passively nearby and did not help federal officers clear a path through a similar group of protesters for a van carrying detained immigrants to pass. Day said in a normal situation, they would clear a blocked street. But with ICE, they 'are not going to actively enforce some of these laws' that are hindering ICE's operation, Day said. But, he added, 'we can't say that the ICE facility, in itself, as it stands, is free game, that anybody can do whatever they want to that building or to that area.' The wild card, according to everyone involved, is the small portion of people who show up and try to escalate conflict and encourage illegal behavior. Nearly everyone who spoke to POLITICO for this article mentioned groups on the right and left who are suspected of coming to peaceful protests in order to incite violence. 'Law enforcement may be called to navigate criminal activity on the fringes of a free speech event, which creates a lot of challenges,' Schmautz said. And at the core of the conversation is Portland's collective identity as a city that is always willing to fight back. Chief Day noted Portland's longstanding protest culture. Free speech demonstrations are one of the city's core values, Schmautz added. King said she and her fellow protesters expect to become a target of the Trump administration in the coming days or weeks. But perhaps Hayes put it best: 'If you push, Portland pushes back,' he said. 'If they come to Portland acting up, Portland's gonna return that LA energy.'

Politico

9 hours ago

Politico

‘I just had flashbacks': Portland looks to avoid repeat of 2020 protests

Before Los Angeles, there was Portland, Oregon. For more than 170 days in 2020, thousands of Portlanders gathered to protest police violence. They lay peacefully in the middle of the city's most iconic bridge and marched with a local NBA star — but also tore down statues and looted shops. Police launched tear gas canisters into crowds, while the 750 Department of Homeland Security agents President Donald Trump dispatched to the city without the approval of local or state officials grabbed protesters at night and loaded them into unmarked vehicles. As anti-Trump protests ramp up — with major rallies taking place across the country on Saturday — Portland officials are anxious to avoid a repeat of 2020. 'The Portland Police and then the feds overreacting in the way that they did, I think it brought even more people out because it was such injustice,' said Ali King, a veteran social organizer in Portland who worked for now-retired Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) at the time. 'When I saw the LA thing, I just had flashbacks. I did feel some PTSD.' The impact of those protests and riots on Portland was massive. Voters completely overhauled the city's government structure, the county elected a more tough-on-crime district attorney, and the police department reformed the way it deals with protesters. Five years later and 1000 miles away, President Trump again deployed federal officers into a city beset by protests against the will of state and local officials. Those recent events in Los Angeles have put Portland back on edge. Protests this week in the Rose City have been largely peaceful, but as tensions grow, officials hope policy changes will be enough to avoid a repeat of 2020's violence and prevent federal involvement. 'We've changed so much since 2020,' Mayor Keith Wilson, a trucking company owner and political outsider who was elected in 2024 on a progressive platform of fixing the city's homeless problem and improving public safety, told POLITICO earlier this week. 'But federal overreach is something we're concerned about, and we're prepared to sue.' A review conducted by an independent monitor after the 2020 protests found failings by the city and the police department ranging from poor communication with the public to inadequate training in deescalation tactics and insufficient guidance about when and how to use force. These problems, the review found, led to mistrust between the public and the police and escalated — rather than deescalated — the situation. In the wake of that review and a handful of lawsuits brought against the police department for actions taken during the 2020 protests, significant changes were made to the city's policing policies. Wilson and Portland Police Chief Bob Day told POLITICO those changes include reducing use of tear gas and militarized gear, overhauling the department's rapid response team and establishing liaison officers to build relationships with community organizers. Members of the department also attended training in Cincinnati and London to learn from experts in deescalation and crowd control, Day added. 'We're looking at large-scale events much differently than we've done in the past,' said Day, a former deputy chief who was called out of retirement in 2023 to be interim chief by then-mayor Ted Wheeler. 'What you want to bring, from a public safety standpoint, is you're not adding to the chaos.' Most protests in Portland since these changes were instituted have been peaceful, but Sergeant Aaron Schmautz, president of Portland's police union, says the city hasn't faced a situation like 2020 that would put the new tactics to the test. 'There's just a lot of nervousness right now,' he said. Portland is not alone in the Northwest. Tensions are also growing in Seattle and Spokane, neighboring Washington's two largest cities, in light of anti-ICE protests and the federal government's response in Los Angeles. Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said Tuesday he will do anything in his power to protect Seattleites 'from anyone who comes to the city with the intention to hurt them or inhibit their First Amendment rights,' and was willing to risk arrest to do so. Then on Wednesday, at least eight demonstrators were arrested by Seattle police after a dumpster was set on fire. In Spokane, meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Lisa Brown instituted a curfew after more than 30 people, including a former city council president, were arrested during protests. King said protesters in Portland are willing to put their bodies in the way to stop ICE actions, like physically blocking agents' path or distracting them. And she says trust between protesters and the Portland Police Bureau is still really low. But she added that the community has been having its own conversations about remaining peaceful and deescalating within the ranks at protests. Terrence Hayes, a formerly incarcerated local community organizer who is on the city's criminal justice commission and supports giving the police more resources, said the city's mood has changed since 2020. The months of violence, tear gas, looting and arrests by federal officers are something residents are not excited to revisit. 'I just don't think we're looking for that fight,' Hayes said. 'If ICE start pushing certain lanes, of course people are going to stand up and protest — but I don't think they're going to be inner-city destructive.' King added that 'if somebody is kidnapping an innocent person off the streets … [we] might have to physically get involved.' Over the last week, there have been protests across the city, including outside the local ICE office. The vast majority have been peaceful, Schmautz said, with minor instances of violence or destructive behavior like arson. The department has arrested about 13 people over the last week. For a city so renowned for its protests that it was once called 'Little Beirut' by a staffer for George H.W. Bush (a moniker a local band proudly took as their own), the last week has been notably quiet. Day said this week shows the new policies are already helping deescalate. But 2025 is very different from 2020 in a key way: Then, Portlanders were protesting their own police department. Now, the target is the federal immigration apparatus. The police department will not assist ICE, Day explained, but needs to prevent violence or lawbreaking all the same. He calls the gray area for local police 'a very complex, nuanced challenge.' The chief gave two examples: Earlier this week, Portland Police removed debris piled by protesters that was preventing ICE contractors from entering a parking lot — receiving criticism from city residents for doing so. At the time, the department contends, the contractors were not engaged in enforcement actions and officers believed that moving the debris would reduce tensions. But on another day, police watched passively nearby and did not help federal officers clear a path through a similar group of protesters for a van carrying detained immigrants to pass. Day said in a normal situation, they would clear a blocked street. But with ICE, they 'are not going to actively enforce some of these laws' that are hindering ICE's operation, Day said. But, he added, 'we can't say that the ICE facility, in itself, as it stands, is free game, that anybody can do whatever they want to that building or to that area.' The wild card, according to everyone involved, is the small portion of people who show up and try to escalate conflict and encourage illegal behavior. Nearly everyone who spoke to POLITICO for this article mentioned groups on the right and left who are suspected of coming to peaceful protests in order to incite violence. 'Law enforcement may be called to navigate criminal activity on the fringes of a free speech event, which creates a lot of challenges,' Schmautz said. And at the core of the conversation is Portland's collective identity as a city that is always willing to fight back. Chief Day noted Portland's longstanding protest culture. Free speech demonstrations are one of the city's core values, Schmautz added. King said she and her fellow protesters expect to become a target of the Trump administration in the coming days or weeks. But perhaps Hayes put it best: 'If you push, Portland pushes back,' he said. 'If they come to Portland acting up, Portland's gonna return that LA energy.'

A historian of fascism is asked whether this was week was a turning point

Los Angeles Times

11 hours ago

Los Angeles Times

A historian of fascism is asked whether this was week was a turning point

Do you remember that day in March 2020 — five years and several eternities ago — when Tom Hanks tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA announced they were suspending their season and profound upheaval suddenly seemed inevitable? I've felt echoes of that feeling the past few days, as downtown businesses boarded up their windows and the facts on the ground grew ever more fantastical. Are we at the edge of some irreparable rupture in American democracy? Or is this just another strange and absurd chapter in a long series of them? On Sunday, the president sent federalized National Guard troops into a city against the will of the state's governor for the first time in 60 years. On Thursday, California's senior senator was tackled to the ground by federal agents and handcuffed at a news conference. Hundreds of active duty Marines were sent into the Los Angeles area, where for days they appeared to be performing heavily armed training exercises on what looked like a high school sports field. (A looming scoreboard, palm trees and jacaranda blooms were all visible behind their riot shields, according to a social media post from the U.S. Northern Command.) The president and the governor are having a momentous fight about constitutional rights in the courts, and flaming each other with insults and photoshopped memes on Truth Social and X. The ICE raids have thrown some Angelenos into a state of fear and virtual hiding. But for many others, ordinary life continues apace. Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly cautioned that L.A. is being treated like 'a grand experiment' — a testing ground for President Trump to see if he can usurp the authority of Democratic mayors or governors in other states. Warning signs of democratic breakdown have been pointed out by scholars and Trump's critics since he took office for his first term in 2017 — so much so that many have grown numb to them. Has this week been any different? I called Federico Finchelstein, a historian of fascism and dictatorships who chairs the history department at the New School for Social Research in New York, to ask whether he saw this week as a turning point for the country. Finchelstein characterized Trump's federalizing of the California National Guard as a clear turn toward authoritarianism. He cited the move, along with attacks on the press and the judiciary and the manhandling of Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday, as assaults on democratic norms that 'create the conditions for a further erosion of democracy.' But he hesitated about categorizing recent events as a turning point. It's hard while living in the middle of history to know precisely where you stand, he explained. 'It's very difficult to know what is the exact outcome of this sort of militarization of politics,' Finchelstein said. 'What we know is that democracy is at the other end, and this path is towards either disabling, denigrating or even destroying democracy. It's hard to know where it ends.' The outcome would also depend on more than Trump's next move, according to the historian. History has shown that when anti-democratic attempts are met with institutional and public resistance, they are less likely to succeed, Finchelstein said. 'In other words, this is not the end of the story,' he told me. A selection of the very best reads from The Times' 143-year archive. Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team Julia Wick, staff writerKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on

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‘I just had flashbacks': Portland looks to avoid repeat of 2020 protests

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A historian of fascism is asked whether this was week was a turning point

Today in Chicago History: In a scene out of ‘Casino,' Spilotro brothers buried alive in Indiana cornfield

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‘I just had flashbacks': Portland looks to avoid repeat of 2020 protests

‘I just had flashbacks': Portland looks to avoid repeat of 2020 protests

A historian of fascism is asked whether this was week was a turning point

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