The Mysticism
of Ordinary Life
Constructing
Identity
‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVI • Number 4
A review of the
film ‘Paterson’
African American
masterpieces
on exhibit
See Metro, page 9
See Local News, page 3
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • January 25, 2017
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by Z achary S enn /t he p ortland o bServer
Tens of thousands of protesters in Portland spill onto the streets and form a protest Friday to send a decisive message that a broad coalition is prepared to resist the newly
installed Trump Administration.
Discontent
with a Trump
Administration
Z achary S enn
t he p ortland o bServer
A myriad of community organizations
and tens of thousands of individuals took
to the streets in downtown Portland for a
weekend of protests after President Donald
Trump’s inauguration on Friday in Wash-
ington, D.C.
From contentious stand-offs between
demonstrators and Portland police on the
by
Resistance
night of the inauguration to a peaceful
crowd of as many as 100,000 people par-
ticipating in Saturday’s Women’s March
on Portland, one of the largest protests
ever seen in the city, the voices raised sent
a decisive message that a broad coalition
in Portland is prepared to resist the newly
installed Trump Administration.
Gregory McKelvey, the 23-year-old
leader of Portland’s Resistance, one of the
chief organizers of Friday’s demonstra-
tions along with a group called Direct Ac-
tion Alliance dubbed the action an event to
“Rise Up and Resist Fascism,” according
to the event’s Facebook page. He told the
Portland Observer another primary objec-
tive was to build community ties and meet
with people who share common political
values.
The first protest started to form down-
town in the early afternoon just after Trump
took the oath of office in a ceremony on the
steps of the U.S. Capitol. Although the at-
mosphere by protesters was overall festive
as the crowd grew to an estimated 10,000
people, clashes with law enforcement
darkened the evening.
On Monday, official complaints by pro-
testers of excessive force by police were
made to the Independent Police Review
Division. New Portland Mayor Ted Wheel-
er said he would also review the reports.
Wheeler said he supported demonstra-
tors’ right to assembly and their right to
free expression, but wanted to limit acts
of vandalism and disruptions to transit that
marred similar protests in Portland after
Trump was elected in November.
But representatives of the Direct Action
Alliance on Monday called for the firing of
c ontinued on p age 4