Local Officials Frenzied over Federal Response in Portland Riots

July 19, 2020 (EIRNS)—Portland, Oregon has suffered for weeks under violent Antifa protests (riots), perpetrated under the mantle of Black(-Clad) Lives Matter. When the federal courthouse came under direct attack, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stepped in to defend the federal building. The glass windows were boarded up and a perimeter fence was erected, to prevent violent arsonists from destroying it. (The Portland Police Association building was broken into and set afire before police forced the rioters to disperse.)

The federal agents have been taking tougher measures, including making arrests from unmarked vehicles, which allows for greater safety and reduced use of force.

In response, Mayor Ted Wheeler said that the city’s police department would not be allowed to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called for federal agents to leave: “This political theater from President Trump has nothing to do with public safety,” Brown said. “The President is failing to lead this nation. Now he is deploying federal officers to patrol the streets of Portland in a blatant abuse of power by the federal government.”

The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Russiagate spinner of tall tales Jerrold Nadler, has joined with the Homeland Security and Oversight Committees to send letters to the inspectors general of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to launch investigations, huffing that “we are increasingly alarmed at the Trump Administration’s use of federal law enforcement to violate the civil rights of our constituents.”

The plentiful footage of these protests being anything but non-violent give the lie to these defenses of black-clad practitioners of something approaching irregular warfare.