Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, August 21, 2019, Page 3, Image 3

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    August 21, 2019
Page 3
INSIDE L O C A L N E W S
The
Week in Review
M ETRO
page 2
page 6
ap p hoto /n oah b erger
Portland police officers hold ground against a group of left wing protesters who gathered downtown
Saturday to confront opposing groups of right-wing protesters who picked Portland as a city to
demonstrate nationally. Although some arrests were made and some skirmishes erupted in the
following hours, dueling protests remained largely peaceful.
Tensions Ease after Protests
Police keep dueling
groups apart
The tension felt across the city
by many expecting violence Satur-
day in Portland at the long-hyped
national right wing rally and the
counter demonstrations in response
was met with relief when it was
over due to it not being as violent
as feared, even as one East Coast-
based far-right organizer has vowed
to return to Portland monthly.
At its peak, the dueling protests
drew in more than 1,200 people,
with both far-right protestors and
antifascist counter-demonstrators,
arriving at about 8:30 a.m. down-
town, police said.
Almost immediately, officers
started seizing weapons including
bear spray, metal and wooden poles,
page 8
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
knives, shields and a stun gun. But
by using barriers and bridge clo-
sures — and allowing a large con-
tingent of right-wingers to leave
when they asked to — authorities
were able to mostly keep the two
sides apart. Six minor injuries were
reported as well as several bursts of
skirmishes throughout the day.
Police ended up arresting and
releasing 13 people on “civil distur-
bance” charges.
“I’m grateful this was largely
a peaceful event,” said Mayor Ted
Wheeler. “We were preparing for
and planning for a worst-case sce-
nario.”
Police reported at least six in-
stances where officers used force,
including one deployment of pepper
balls and additional “take-downs or
control against resistance.”
Joe Biggs, the Florida organizer
of the right-wing gathering, which
include the Proud Boys, Patriot
Prayer and other far-right groups,
said they accomplished their goal of
drawing negative attention to Port-
land’s black-clad antifascist pro-
testers — known as antifa —who
showed up to confront them.
President Donald Trump tweeted
early Saturday that major consider-
ation was being given to naming an-
tifa “an organization of terror” but
made no reference to the violence
and deaths attributed to groups as-
sociated with racism and right wing
violence.
Biggs said he and his group
would keep coming back to Port-
land so long as antifa was around.
But Eric K. Ward, executive direc-
tor of the Portland-based Western
C ontinueD on p age 7
Altered Mug Shot before Judge
Police accused
of trying to ‘rig
the outcome’
O PINION
C LASSIFIEDS
pages 9-10
pages 10
A federal court is weighing
whether eye witness accounts to a
bank heist case should be thrown
out due to the manipulation of a
photo from a lineup of suspects in
which police used Photoshop to
remove facial tattoos on a black
suspect, a move the defense attor-
ney said was an attempt to “rig
Tyrone Lamont Allen’s actual mugshot showing his face
the outcome” of a prosecution.
tattoos(left) and the altered photo with the markings removed
Tyrone Lamont Allen has un-
to match a description of a man in a bank robbery. A judge
mistakable tattoos on his forehead
will decide if the photo manipulation was an attempt to ‘rig the
C ontinueD on p age 7
outcome’ of a prosecution.