Leftists Attempt To Set Up Another 'Autonomous' Zone, This Time in Portland
Two weeks after police in Seattle cleared out an area occupied by leftist activists, a group attempted to set up a similar area in Portland, Oregon.
KATU-TV reported a group of people late Tuesday attempted to take over a portion of the city’s downtown area, which they were calling the “Chinook Land Autonomous Territory,” or CLAT for short.
Chinook is an apparent reference to Chinookan tribes who once occupied the area that is now home to Portland.
Like protesters in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ (later called CHOP, for Capitol Hill Occupied Protest), protesters in Portland set up barriers near the city’s central police precinct.
Fox News reported the protest was organized by a collective of anti-capitalist, anti-fascist teens who called themselves the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front.
The group set up tents and barriers near federal buildings and used Twitter to try to recruit others to join them.
Barricade at the Chinook Land Autonomous Territory (#CLAT).
People are needed here ALL night long, especially in the early morning! Get on over rn! Bring some tents. pic.twitter.com/cP5cG77m9m— PNW Youth Liberation Front (@PNWYLF) July 15, 2020
Police said in a news release early Wednesday that they had taken down barricades, but after officers were pelted with glass bottles and targeted with laser pointers, they retreated and the barriers were again temporarily reassembled.
The Portland Police Department tweeted that officers were also targeted with ball bearings, rocks and other projectiles.
A snapshot of the crowd on N Lombard St on July 13-14 that remained after numerous lawful orders to disperse. Glass bottles, paint, rocks, ball bearings, and other projectiles hurled at Officers. The arrest is for a subject unlawfully directing a laser pointer in officer’s eyes. pic.twitter.com/59TPx84j6B
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) July 14, 2020
Police added in the news release that the clash with protesters began when “a couple hundred demonstrators gathered at Revolution Hall in Southeast Portland and marched all throughout downtown Portland.”
“After officers left the area, the demonstrators lit a fire to what was left of the barricade. Several minutes later, a demonstrator extinguished the fire and several demonstrators began to rebuild the barricade,” police said.
This is what the barricade looked like on SW 3rd and Salmon before police took it down. @PortlandPolice #portlandprotests #georgeFloyd #fox12Oregon pic.twitter.com/8xJkQmj5lW
— Marilyn Deutsch (@marilyndeutsch) July 15, 2020
The skirmishes between police and the protestors lasted into Wednesday morning.
Police also said that no “CS gas, crowd control munitions, or force was used.”
Some of those behind the takeover of the area are affiliated with antifa, according to the New York Post. The group, which President Donald Trump has called a “terrorist organization,” has been involved in Portland violence for many years.
Protests have been occurring in the city since the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler blamed police for his city’s perpetual state of protest Wednesday and asked federal law enforcement officers to “leave Portland.”
I told the Acting Secretary that my biggest immediate concern is the violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use. We do not need or want their help.
— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) July 14, 2020
While we’re busy cleaning our streets and buildings, the two federal buildings are covered with graffiti that has been there for weeks on end. Our plan is this: protect our community. Clean up our city. And re-open.
— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) July 14, 2020
Journalist Andy Ngo, who covers antifa and other leftist groups in Portland, shared video from the chaotic scene early Wednesday.
Antifa & BLM extremists attacked @PortlandPolice union building on 13–14 July. They threw rocks, bottles & bricks. Some fired metal ballbearings from slingshots after blinding police w/paint. A construction worker was hit. 5 were arrested. #PortlandRiots https://t.co/BlYZuMGpiC pic.twitter.com/8ZZ2PGMZV8
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 14, 2020
Antifa in Portland set up walls and barriers in the street outside the federal courthouse to claim their own autonomous zone, calling it “CLAT” for “Chinook Land Autonomous Territory.” pic.twitter.com/ntQQPfCZAR
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 15, 2020
Ngo reported federal officers intervened and made at least one arrest.
Federal police use crowd control to clear antifa rioters from their street occupation dubbed the “CLAT.” The street was shut down for hours when antifa used stolen property to create walls around their space. pic.twitter.com/Yiex4Hi89r
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 15, 2020
Federal law enforcement make an arrest of an antifa black bloc militant. Notice how the camera person says “NLG will get you out.” @NLGnews is a lawyers’ organization historically close to American communists. They operate as the legal wing of antifa. pic.twitter.com/lM9KmwDtD4
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 15, 2020
The attempt to set up an autonomous zone in Portland came after activists in Seattle successfully occupied an entire neighborhood and police precinct in the city’s Capital Hill neighborhood for nearly a month.
Police in Seattle finally acted by taking the area down on July 1, but not before property in the area was severely damaged and multiple people were shot.
Two teenage gunshot victims died: a 19-year-old and a 16-year-old.
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