Police Respond Violently to Anti-Police Brutality March

This is a press release from the PR committee.

Portland, OR — Ten protesters were arrested yesterday during a march against police brutality and in solidarity with Occupy Oakland.  The tone and tenor of the Portland Police is of heightened aggression toward protesters and even bystanders, pulling individuals from the sidewalk to arrest them. Two windows were broken during the march; the police responded by violently arresting those not associated with the property destruction.

Eight days ago Occupy Oakland protesters were attacked with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades when they attempted to use a long vacant building to provide community services. Over four hundred people were arrested en masse.

This national action, called for by Occupy Oakland, was not officially an Occupy Portland event and was organized by others in the Portland community. The Occupy movement is a non-violent movement and has not engaged in violence or property destruction during its four months of existence. Recent and past incidents are the acts of autonomous individuals.

The only violence during the evening was committed by the Portland Police Bureau who responded violently during the march. The police did not immediately respond to the breaking of two windows, nor did they target people who had participated in those actions. After the incidents, they forcefully arrested anyone who lingered in the street as well as pulled people from the sidewalks. Protesters were thrown to the ground, some visibly bleeding, and had their hands and feet tied by riot police.

Riot police showed a new level of aggression at the protest and made arrests in at least four locations in SE Portland. In all instances but one protesters were marching almost entirely on the sidewalk. The majority of those arrested were released within an hour on minor violations.

“I was with part of the march after riot police rushed at us,” said Emmalyn Garrett, a member of the Occupy Portland PR committee who was there to observe the march.  “I was standing on the sidewalk on Belmont Street, when an officer ran up behind me, grabbed me by the hair, and shoved my face into the pavement, breaking my glasses in half and cutting my face.  I was arrested for standing on a sidewalk at an anti-police brutality march. The police are out of control.”

For the sake of transparency, Occupy Portland Livestream will be posting video of police aggression that was captured by its cameras. While Occupy Portland did not organize this event, we once again call on Portland Police Chief Mike Reese and Police Commissioner Sam Adams to release all the video from their own cameras, uncensored and uncut for all the community and taxpayers to see.

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Interview with one of those arrested can be found here.

This entry was posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.