May 3, 2017
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photo by Z achary S enn /t he p ortland o bServer
Law enforcement in riot gear stand guard near the Wells Fargo tower after a riot breaks out during
a May Day march in downtown Portland Monday. Police said the permit for the protest was revoked
after projectiles were thrown at officers.
March Turns to Riot
May Day
messages get
drown out
A peaceful downtown march
to observe May 1 as International
Workers Day and a rally point for
other causes was disrupted Monday
when a large group of protesters
turned violent by throwing rocks,
smoke bombs and road flares. Win-
dows at Portland City Hall and sev-
eral storefronts in the downtown
core were broken and fires were set.
Witnesses said everything was
calm with groups of people of all
ages participating in a permitted
march during the afternoon when
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tempts to set at least one business
on fire. Some of the items thrown at
or launched at police and firefight-
ers were listed as rocks, bottles, ball
bearings, fireworks, smoke bombs
and road flares.
“I’m very proud of the profes-
sionalism of Portland Police offi-
cers, Portland Firefighters and the
members of the other law enforce-
ment agencies that worked to keep
the peace in Downtown Portland
under very difficult circumstanc-
es,” said Police Chief Mike Marsh-
man. “Unfortunately the actions of
the law breakers undermined and
covered up the message of the law
abiding individuals who worked to
peacefully get their message heard
on May Day.”
Division on Police Chief Search
Z achary S enn
t he p ortland o bServer
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s renewed
commitment to conduct a four
month nationwide search for a
new police chief has drawn sup-
port and opposition.
The union representing Portland
Police Bureau officers criticized
the search last week while throw-
ing their support behind the current
chief Mike Marshman. At the same
time, an African-American leader
of the police reform movement in
Portland welcomed the search.
The Portland Police Associa-
tion says a survey of the union’s
rank and file members found 94
percent support the chief with 83
by
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another group of people identified
as anarchists arrived and were intent
on violence.
Police said 25 people were ar-
rested after the march devolved into
a riot and the permit was revoked.
Most were charged with committing
criminal acts, including disorderly
conduct, riot, arson, criminal mis-
chief (vandalism), theft, and assault.
Police said several sticks, poles
and homemade shields were taken
into possession by police early in
the march from participants arriv-
ing at Shemanski Park in southwest
Portland.
The fires were set in the street
and in garbage cans. Authorities
said a police car was spray-painted
and vandalized, and there were at-
percent of the officers agreeing
that replacing Marshman with
someone from outside the bureau
would adversely affect the city’s
law enforcement.
The Rev. T. Allen Bethel, who
serves as the vice chair of the
Albina Ministerial Alliance Co-
alition for Justice and Police Re-
form, however, supports looking
outside the department. He criti-
cized Marshman for not working
hard enough to implement police
reforms as a member of an over-
sight panel.
“I didn’t see great participation
by him or really a push by him to
see that the reforms and the com-
munity’s concerns were heard,”
Bethel told The Oregonian/Ore-
gonLive.
Wheeler, who also serves as the
city’s police commissioner, prom-
ised to conduct the national search
to replace Marshman throughout
his campaign. He also pledged to
continue guiding the city’s police
reform efforts, and working to-
ward demilitarizing the Bureau.
In an recent interview with
the Portland Observer, the mayor
encouraged Chief Marshman to
reapply for the position to be con-
sidered.
“If Marshman is to stay, I need to
know he’s my chief,” Wheeler said,
“And that he’s committed to the re-
forms that I’ve been espousing.”