Push comes to shove at Occupy Portland
The police have substantially cleared out the Occupy Portland camps, and two downtown city parks that "hosted" them have been mostly cleared of protesters. More squatters have been arrested. The streets are blocked, many dozens of police in riot gear are ringing the parks, and just as many angry folks are standing around in the streets and on the sidewalks. Normalcy, even the Portland version, seems many hours, if not days, away.
The TV news folks arrived just after the cops showed up in numbers. But funny thing, the two local stations showing pro football don't dare switch to live coverage of the cleanout.
UPDATE, 1:33 p.m.: There are reportedly still people holed up in Chapman Square, and one person is reportedly being taken away in an ambulance.
| Posted at 1:26 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (11)
When I returned to Portland in the early 90s I enjoyed visiting downtown. It was lively and for a rural guy, exciting and busy.
Today I just give the whole thing a pass. It's a mess for kids by kids.
Posted by LL | November 13, 2011 1:29 PM
And grownups get to pay for it all.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 13, 2011 1:36 PM
Well played City if Portland. If Sam was the architect of this dispersal, I hate/have to give him Kudos. Maybe the Police were being reactive and waiting for Jack to go to bed.
Posted by dhughes609 | November 13, 2011 2:09 PM
A couple of hours ago during a stop at office depot, I saw two pretty ugly black Porland Police armored cars running with blue lights and sirens south on McGloughlin. The was no traffic. I assume they were part of the riot geared troops shown to be at the square in the live feed.
Was the lights and siren run really necessary? I have put up with a lot of s**t in the last decade and do not enjoy the illusion of living in a Police State. I don't anticipate that I will like the reality much better.
Posted by John F. Bradach, Sr. | November 13, 2011 2:10 PM
Looks like they're setting up a first aid station near the Federal Courthouse.
Speculation on KGW that it will be used to treat pepper spray victims. The po-po don't need to wear a mask to deploy pepper spray, but most will put them on first because you don't want your fingers near your face after you've sprayed it.
Posted by Mister Tee | November 13, 2011 2:14 PM
This is like some two year old picking at a scab....pick pick pick...And then the puss and blood oozes out...
Or the drip drip drip of a leaking faucet and we are just sitting around waiting for the pipe to burst.
Posted by Portland Native | November 13, 2011 2:37 PM
Of course they wont cut away from football. Many don't want to think about this crap anymore and would prefer to watch our games. If we wanted we could watch in channel 2. No reason to shove it down our throats and have it on all channels.
Posted by ab | November 13, 2011 3:01 PM
It occurs to me that the city could probably have housed and fed these street folks for the entire winter on what will be spent on police overtime, fencing and the other costs of just the last few days, let alone the last few weeks.
Sam and company are SO stupid!
Posted by Portland Native | November 13, 2011 3:29 PM
Many don't want to think about this crap anymore and would prefer to watch our games.
Which, to significant extent, is how we got here.
Posted by Roger | November 13, 2011 4:00 PM
Succinctly put, Roger.
Babs Bush didn't want to "...waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" So, they let their (public) servants clean up the mess that the really entitled make.
Posted by Old Zeb | November 13, 2011 4:35 PM
Feed of PoPo / MultCo stream.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=wp&feedId=348
Posted by Max | November 13, 2011 4:49 PM