Portland’s Far Left Is Not Happy With Mayor WheelerJOHN SEXTONPosted at 6:41 pm on August 15, 2019
After the Antifa attack on reporter Andy Ngo became national news, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler decided to take a stand. Well, it wasn’t exactly a stand it was more of a vague statement about “some” who “chose to engage in violence.” Mayor Wheeler wanted these unnamed perpetrators (he never named Antifa) to know he wasn’t having it anymore.
This coming weekend Portland is expected to be the scene of another clash between far-right groups from out of town and homegrown far-left groups, especially Antifa. In anticipation of this, Mayor Wheeler put out a video statement once again saying he won’t tolerate the violence. He promised to “use whatever means necessary” (a phrase that should resonate with Antifa) to prevent violence. Yesterday, Wheeler also had a public gathering of civic leaders to make the point that the entire city is against violence in the streets. Again, it’s worth noting that the Mayor never mentioned Antifa by name. Still, Portland Mercury’s Blogtown reports local far-left activists are upset with the Mayor:
“What’s even more unsafe is letting these movements go unopposed,” says Effie Baum, spokesperson for Popular Mobilization, or PopMob, a group that organizes left-wing rallies. “If we don’t go, they’re going to continue to grow and continue to come back. Honestly, the growing far-right movement is far more dangerous than the decision to show up and oppose it.”
Baum believes the city’s pushback violates Portlanders’ constitutional right to protest…
Baum acknowledges that Portland’s various anti-fascist groups often use different tactics during protests. Some of them can turn violent.
“The bottom line is that we are all on the same team and we all have the same end goals,” Baum says, “which is we don’t want fascists feeling welcome in our community.”
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This Weekend: Portland
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