The radical right’s long-festering strategy of organizing gangs of armed street brawlers from out of town to invade urban liberal centers with the intent of provoking violence may reach its nadir this weekend when Proud Boys and their far-right “Patriot” cohorts gather in Portland. They are expected to draw hundreds of participants—and likely thousands of counterprotesters, though they will be gathering at separate venues miles apart.
The Saturday rally, again under the rubric of a popular right-wing talking point (organizers say the theme is “End Domestic Terrorism”) has become the focus of concern from government officials and civic leaders in Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown on Friday declared an emergency in Portland over the weekend: “The First Amendment does not give anyone license to hurt or kill someone because of opposing political views,” Brown said. “And when free expression is fueled by hate and coupled with an intent to incite violence, then I need to do everything I can as governor to ensure the safety of Oregonians."
Police officials have been scrambling to prepare for the onslaught, with all Portland police ordered to suspend time off and vacation plans, and numerous other local jurisdictions contributing to the large police force. The key to their plans is the separate venues for the two events: Proud Boys and their supporters are scheduled to rally at Delta Park—a physically remote part of Portland, located at the Columbia River crossing well north of downtown—while counterprotesters have been organized to gather at Peninsula Park, also well out of downtown but three miles away.
“Our primary goal is to keep these groups out of contact with one another, completely,” Deputy Chief Chris Davis said. “That’s really the safest way to get through this.”
The concern has been particularly heightened because the rally has been planned from the start as a response to the shooting death three weeks ago of a member of the right-wing street-brawling group Patriot Prayer following a daylong incursion of far-right Trump supporters and Proud Boys in downtown Portland, at the hands of a self-described antifascist (who was later tracked down and killed by law enforcement officers).
The event was organized amid a deluge of calls for “civil war” and revenge on antifascists by a broad swath of right-wing extremists, notably Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers, who tweeted: “The first shot has been fired brother. Civil war is here, right now. We'll give Trump one last chance to declare this a Marxist insurrection & suppress it as his duty demands. If he fails to do HIS duty, we will do OURS.”
As Casey Michel remarked at The New Republic:
Rhodes’s comments are hardly a surprise. But they are explicit confirmation that America’s militia movement is a vehicle for far-right forces to coalesce and coordinate armed pushback against protesters of anti-democratic policies in the U.S. They confirm that these armed, conspiratorially minded men’s “support and defend the Constitution” rhetoric was empty air, vacuous word salad meant to paper over the violence these men thirst for. They confirm that, in the end, America’s militia movement is little more than the heir to the white vigilantes that preceded it—the white rifle clubs and night-riders terrorizing Black Americans, the settler-colonial vigilante groups leading America’s ethnic cleansing campaigns across the American West. These supposed “oath keepers” are now Fascist for a would-be American Duce, Blackshirt shock troops in the campaign to maintain the nation’s racial hierarchy, no matter how much bloodshed that goal requires.
Rhodes and the Oath Keepers were banned from Twitter as a result of the tweet. But the mask was off. In the ensuing weeks, threats of violence and revenge against “antifa” have been standard fare at the internet platforms and chat rooms where right-wing extremists of all stripes have discussed the event, usually amid fantasy talk about how many leftists they can kill.
A meme promoted by Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs.
Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs—one of the primary organizers of the August 2019 Proud Boys march through Portland, and a national leader of the organization—recently amplified a meme promoting the rally on his Parler account featuring an image of himself pasted onto the body of a heavily armed toy soldier, with the text: “No Bag Limit on Antifa Scum.”
Civic leaders, including unions and civil rights groups, cosigned a letter to government officials demanding they safeguard the public. "As we look ahead to the planned rally by paramilitary and alt-right figures on September 26th in Portland, we are reaching out to ask you—the elected and appointed leaders with the authority and responsibility to keep our community safe—to renew your commitment and take additional steps to create lasting change," the letter says. "By using Portland as a place to hone their paramilitary training and garner the media attention they need to promote themselves, alt-right and paramilitary groups are now working to build power around the region, chill democratic practice, threaten community safety, and undermine civil society."
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler denounced the gathering, saying of the Proud Boys and their supporters: “While espousing patriotism and a commitment to peaceful protest, some in these groups and many who associate with them have a record of racism, intolerance, and hate. Those are not Portland values, and they are not welcome.”
The Proud Boys applied for a permit for their gathering, and were denied one by city officials on the basis of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in Oregon, which limit gatherings to 50 people. But organizers said they would gather in the park regardless of whether they were given a permit or not: Proud Boys international chairman Enrique Tarrio told The Oregonian that his group only sought the permit as “a courtesy.”
The permit application said Proud Boys intended to rally against “antifa terrorists”: “We the PEOPLE are tired of incompetent city leadership who neuters police and allows violent gangs of rioting felons to run the streets, burn buildings, throw molotov cocktails/rocks/fireworks/concrete and assault people with impunity,” it read.
