September 25, 2019
Page 5
Police Action at
March Criticized
C ontinued from f ront
One arrest was of an adult male
who identified himself only as “Jake,”
whom police said was using spray
paint to deface the bridge. He was pep-
per sprayed after initially resisting ar-
rest, officials said. But the arrest that
drew the ire of the president and chief
executive officer of the Urban League,
Nkenge Harmon Johnson, and Com-
missioner Hardesty was videos show-
ing officers “pushing through a crowd
of white teenagers to pull a black teen-
ager from their midst.”
Johnson accused the public safety
officers involved of “unacceptable be-
havior toward our young people.”
The videos were viewed more than a
half million times on social media, ac-
cording to reports. One video showed
officers trying to get two young peo-
ple down from a metal railing on the
bridge, and another showed the officers
later pushing through a group to arrest
one of the teens who had earlier been
standing on the railing.
“I’ve said it before and will say it
again. The Portland Police are out of
control and need to be reined in,” said
Johnson, as quoted in the Willamette
Week.
Hardesty also said the action from
police recorded in the videos was dis-
turbing.
“Every encounter with the public
is an opportunity to show community
trust, yet this is how these officers chose
to interact with children peacefully en-
gaging in direct action,” Hardesty said.
“I am so proud to have witnessed the
power of our youth at last Friday’s
Global Climate Strike and it’s unfortu-
nate that the conduct of Portland Police
officers during the protest—rather than
the amazing show of power and resolve
our youth showed that day—is what we
are now talking about.”
The Portland Police Bureau defend-
ed its actions immediately after the
Friday march. The department stated
that the young black man they arrest-
ed had been leaning out into the traffic
lane on the bridge, causing some vehi-
cles to slam on their brakes. When they
tried to arrest him, others in the crowd
pulled him away and police backed off,
but followed him “to a safer location”
where he was arrested, police said. The
third person arrested was another teen
who tried to interfere when the first
boy was arrested, authorities added.
Both were later released “to the custo-
dy of responsible adults.”
The Police Bureau said safety was
the utmost importance to police offi-
cers at the time and defended the of-
ficers using a common tactic to delay
arrest to a time when it was safer to
avoid a flashpoint and avoid the risk of
having to use even greater force.
The PPB also said these were just
a few selected arrests in a large scale
event involving thousands of people
spanning several hours.
“We are sincerely appreciative of the
vast majority of participants who were
entirely peaceful as they exercised their
free-speech rights,” a news release
from the police bureau concluded.
The march across the Hawthorne
Bridge lasted about two hours as partic-
ipants poured onto the OMSI grounds,
where some heard speeches in an area
surrounded by a chain link fence. There
was no way for all the marchers to fit
in that space, and many stopped to eat
snacks they’d brought along and then
left the area.
The march included many creative
signs, including one held by a toddler
that read, “3-Year-Olds for Earth Jus-
tice,” and another held by a teenager
that read, “I See a Green Future and
I’m Color-Blind. Why Don’t You?”
Another popular slogan was “There is
No Planet B,” and a couple of women
dressed as nurses got their point across
photo by
b everly C orbell /t he p ortland o bserver
There were three arrests during Friday’s Climate Strike march from downtown
Portland to the east side near OMSI, including this one of a man who only
identified himself as “Jake,” accused of spray painting graffiti on the Hawthorne
Bridge. The two other arrests of young people, however, brought complaints of
police brutality from the Urban League of Portland and City Commissioner Jo
Ann Hardesty.
by carrying a stretcher with a giant,
dead bumblebee on it.
The worldwide Climate Strike march
was inspired by the Swedish teenag-
er Greta Thunberg’s original solitary
sit-in outside the Swedish parliament
building, estimated by USA Today to
include as many as four million peo-
ple, likely the largest climate rally
ever, “from New Delhi to Antarctica”
to draw attention to the climate crisis
ahead of the United Nations Climate
Action Summit, which started Monday.
“This is the biggest climate strike
ever in history and we all should be
proud of ourselves because we have
done this together,” Thunberg was
quoted as saying.