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Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City of Roses’
Volume XXXXI, Number 46
Wednesday • November 16. 2011
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Committed to Cultural Diversity ^ommumn service
Occupy Protesters Regroup
Eviction from
parks mostly
peaceful
econom ic injustices reflected in the top one
percent o f those w ho control m ost o f the
c o u n try ’s w ealth against the rem aining 99
percent.
T he couple, w ho w anted to rem ain an ony­
m ous, w aited for the m om ent the officers
w ould arrive and tell them to leave.
“ W e ’ll be okay,” said the m ale. “ W e are
doing this to show solidarity because others
are not as brave to do it.”
Taylor Olfert, 18, took his stance under a
tarp tent in Low nsdale Square. Throughout
the weeks o f the occupation, Olfert, along with
others from the movement, chained themselves
to each other to peacefully assem ble.
“ W e ’re sitting here to protect every o n e ’s
First A m endm ent rights,” he said.
H undreds o f oth er individuals gathered
outside in the streets and on the sidew alks
throughout the night, creating a line around
the encam pm ents to show solidarity w ith
those w ho rem ained inside.
“ So m any people believe, but they d o n ’t
take action,” he said. “B ut action is the w ay.
T hat is w hat has go t to h ap p en .”
A ccording to Lt. R obert K ing, the public
inform ation o fficer for the Portland Police
B ureau, those w ho w ere taken into custody
m ade it very clear they w ould rath er be ar­
rested than leave the en cam pm ents. “ Im ­
plicit by th eir actions, ex p licit by w hat they
said, they w anted to be arrested, and they
w ere,” he said.
K ing said, how ever, they w anted the co n ­
frontation to be a peaceful one.
“ W hen you have hundreds o f cops and
thousands o f people to g eth er like that there
is the potential for large-scale confronta-
by M indy C< x ) per
T he P ortland O bserver
D espite their eviction from tw o d o w n ­
tow n parks. O ccupy P ortland dem onstrators
have developed into a face o f w hat d em o c­
racy can look like w hile peacefully standing
up for change.
A w eekend confrontation, filled with thou­
sands o f protesters, ended on Sunday after the
dism antling o f the encam pm ents at Lownsdale
and C hapm an Squares, which resulted in the
arrest o f m ore than 50 individuals.
T he parks, w hich have served as a P ort­
land hom e for a m ovem ent that originated
w ith the O ccupy W all Street dem onstrations
in N ew Y ork C ity, w as cleared o f both trash
and people by M onday m orning, yet spirits
rem ain hopeful that the m ovem ent w ill co n ­
tinue to m ake real change in the future.
W ith signs that read: ‘I am no n -v io len t’
and ‘Police, listen to your he arts’, the w eek ­
end crow ds avoided riots by chanting ‘be
p o lite ’ an d sin g in g son g s o f so lid arity .
C andles w ere held sporadically in ho n o r o f
the individuals w ho had cam ped out in the
squares since O ct. 6.
H u d d le d to g e th e r u n d e r an o a k tree
around 12:30 a.m . on Sunday in C hapm an
Square, tw o O ccupy P ortland d em o n stra­
tors w ere an exam ple o f the protestors w ho
w aited to be arrested in their stance against
Police officers arrest a protester in the Occupy Portland encampment on Sunday,
downtown. (AP photo)
continued
on page 12
Gang-Related Death a Wake-Up Call
Murder victim was
youngest in a decade
by M indy C ooper
T iie P ortland O bserver
A 13-year-old boy has beco m e P o rtla n d ’s
youngest gang-involved victim in over a decade,
raising com m unity concerns.
JulioCesarM aiquez wasfounddeadonNov. 7 when
another young person, an eighth grader who took a
shortcut to school through an alley to catch a bus at 7:30
a m ., found his body near Northeast 107th and Halsey.
Police said Marquez died from multiple gunshot wounds
and blunt force trauma to the head.
Shaken residents o f the adjacent C olonial V illa
A partm ents said they heard scream ing, and as
m any as six gunshots perceived to be com ing from
the outside o f the building, w here nobody noticed
the body in the unlit alley until the next m orning.
A lthough the m otive, Police said, rem ains un­
know n at this tim e, the death o f M arquez, w ho w as
an eighth-grade student at an alternative school,
m akes him the y o u n g est g an g -in v o lv ed victim in
Portland in o v er a decade.
In the past 12 months gun violence has claimed the
livesof nine young people in the city, largely due togang
shootings. Throughout the year, however, there have
continued
on page 21
Julio Cesar Marquez