Just a short diary about the Occupy Portland march in Portland, Oregon on Thursday. I was at the earlier part of the protest-from 12:30-3:00 or so and saw the crowd swell at Waterfront Park (of course I forgot my camera). How many? Dunno, but it overflowed into Ankeny Plaza. Yeah, that's right-I was hangin' with my peeps at the Skidmore Fountain! It was pretty cool...the bullhorn that the speakers used were crap, so the crowd repeated every 5 or six words..."I'd like to thank you all..."..."I'D LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL..."..."for letting me speak today..."..."FOR LETTING ME SPEAK TODAY..."... You get the idea. I couldn't help thinking that the person that writes an app so you can hear the speakers on your cell phone would be a millionaire at 5 bucks a pop-but that might spoil the "crowd dynamic".
So, we started marching. The route was to be along the waterfront, then hook a right straight up to Poineer Courthouse Square. But the park is pretty well fenced off (not a conspiracy-it's just that Waterfront park is used all summer long for every festival in Portland and we do like to keep our jewels green and shiny). It created quite a bottleneck and wasn't working, when someone behind me said "hey-we're going this way!". It seems the cops had blocked of the street so we could march-blocked off all the streets, so we could march. I don't know if the police did this on their own or with Occupy Portland, since Occupy Portland refused to get a permit or a march route (despite the begging of the mayor and police), but it was a much better plan.
So, up we marched toward Broadway, where we hung a lewwie (sp? wtf)-and right here, I'd like to say a special thanks to the girls at Mary's Club, what with you're clapping and cheering and Communist Fist Bumps all up in the air-well done,I say, well done!
Now, Broadway is downtown Portland's main street and everybody was out on the sidewalks, on the fire escapes, in the windows, pretty much cheering us on. Well, not everybody-some were shopping and just trying to get to or from where ever they were going and there was one guy with a negative sign that I don't remember and next to him was an old man with a sign that said "Show Us Your Tits 99'ers". In my small section of the march, people started chanting "Show us YOUR tits! YOU'RE a 99'er". I don't know if the guy's sign was supposed to be anti-protest or what, but it did provide a little comic relief.
Somewhere above, from one of the buildings that we call skyscrapers in my Fair City, somebody was tossing down confetti-like shredded paper...I'll take that as a sign of approval.
When I got to Poineer Courthouse Square (I was maybe halfway in the march), it was already full.According to the Oregonian:
At the beginning of the march, police estimated the crowd at about 4,000, but it reached critical mass at Pioneer Courthouse Square by mid-day. The square -- which holds about 10,000 people -- was elbow-to-elbow full with people spilling out onto surrounding streets.
Yeah! Broadway was shut down for the block along the square and IT was packed! 10,000? Try 12,000. Maybe more (and by the way, while we did disrupt traffic, in at least 2 incidences that I saw, the protesters (not the police) stopped the march to let socialized transportation-like busses and MAX trains-through. It's the way we roll, here in Portland).
And this is where I left. March without a permit? No problem! Support the occupation of a public park? All for it! Park overtime? FUCK THAT! Actually, by the time I got to the car to plug the meter, I decided not to walk the 40ish blocks back to the square and decided, instead, to get me a tasty Occupy IPA (not it's real name-that's Super Dog IPA at the Lucky Lab brewpub).
After I left, the crowd marched down to Lownsdale and Chapman squares, where they are comfortably ensconced. There was a kerfluffle about how to deal with our annual cancer fund raising marathon, but that got worked out. you gotta love it when the course directer, negotiating with Occupy Portland says this:
"We're not here to tell anyone what to do," Hardman told the crowd. "If I didn't have the marathon, I'd be out here myself. I'm not angry at all, about anything."
And this:
"I think it's pretty cool," he said of Occupy Portland. "I'm a citizen myself and a big fan of the First Amendment."
Like I said-that's the way we roll in Portland.
Notes:
The Occupiers are awesome! The City is awesome! The cops are awesome! The Portland Marathon people are especially awesome! We took their permitted start and end spot for their marathon and they supported us in every way. I think a bunch of Occupiers will be volunteering for the marathon and mrs liberte will be going down tomorrow (Sunday) to show support for both groups.
Just out of curiosity, I looked up what the well publicized, well funded Tea Party rally pulled in last spring at Poineer Courthouse square. About 800 people. Hell, there's 600 camped out right now!
Only 2 arrests, so far: a couple of punks got caught tagging police cars and buildings. They were turned in by bystanders.
O.K., so this ISN'T a short diary...I'll get my lawyer.
Back to my original question: Is your town Occupied? How many people showed? Tell me! Tell me!!!