Federal officers to pull out of Portland in a
major reversal for Trump administration
Oregon’s governor says local police will guard the
courthouse as the president says the pullout will not begin until the city is
secure
Chris
McGreal in Portland, Oregon
Wed 29 Jul
2020 22.51 BST
The Trump
administration is to pull federal paramilitaries out of Portland from Thursday
in a major reversal after weeks of escalating protests and violence.
Oregon’s
governor, Kate Brown, said she agreed to the pullout in talks with
vice-president Mike Pence.
Brown said
state and city police officers will replace Department of Homeland Security
agents in guarding the federal courthouse that has become the flashpoint for
the protests.
“These
federal officers have acted as an occupying force, refused accountability, and
brought violence and strife to our community,” the governor said.
Donald
Trump said the pullout will not begin until the courthouse is protected.
“We’re not
leaving until they secure their city. We told the governor, we told the mayor:
secure your city,” said the president.
But the
announcement is a significant retreat by the administration after Trump sent
federal forces to Portland at the beginning of July to end months of Black
Lives Matter protests he described as having dragged the city into anarchy.
Instead of
quelling the unrest, the arrival of paramilitaries fuelled some of the biggest
demonstrations since daily protests following the killing of George Floyd, a
Black American, by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May.
The
situation escalated particularly after agents in camouflage were filmed
snatching protesters from the streets in unmarked vans.
Far from
imposing order, the federal force, drawn from the border patrol, immigration
service and US Marshals, was largely trapped inside the federal courthouse they
were ostensibly there to protect, emerging each night to fire waves of teargas,
baton rounds and stun grenades in street battles with the protesters. But the
demonstrators retained ultimate control of the streets.
Anger at
the presence of the paramilitaries brought thousands of people out each night
and acted as a lightning rod for broader discontent with Trump, including over
his chaotic and divisive handling of the coronavirus epidemic which has killed
nearly 150,000 Americans and shows no signs of abating.
Although
the protesters will claim victory in achieving the demand of their nightly
chant, “Feds go home”, the demonstrations are likely to continue with the focus
shifting back toward the Portland city police with which there had been running
battles before the arrival of the federal agents.
It is not
immediately clear what impact the pullout will have on Trump’s threat to send
federal forces to other cities, ostensibly to quell violent crimes.
The mayors
of Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and 11 other cities accused the president of
deploying federal law enforcement “for political purposes” amid suspicions that
Trump is more interested in creating conflict than ending it in the run up to
the election.
In a letter
to the White House, the mayors said they were disturbed at the actions of
federal agents in Portland, calling their failure to wear proper identification
and the snatching of protesters off the streets “chilling”.
“These are
tactics we expect from an authoritarian regime – not our democracy,” the letter
said.
Although
the arrival of the federal forces reinvigorated the protests for racial justice
in Portland, the nightly battles also distracted from them. Tensions have been
building between the demonstrators focussed on storming the courthouse and
those leading more peaceful protests for reform after Floyd’s killing.
The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Portland
warned that the Black Lives Matter movement was being coopted by “privileged
white people” pursuing other agendas, such as anti-capitalism. It said they
were playing into Trump’s hands by provoking nightly confrontations with the
federal forces.
On Tuesday
night, Najee Gow, an African American organiser for Black Lives Matter, waded
into the group of a few dozen young white people taunting the federal agents.
He accused them of racism for being more invested in fighting at the courthouse
than pushing for racial justice.
“What are
you doing? This is the racist shit we’re talking about. You don’t push a black
agenda and do this,” he shouted at the white protesters who pulled back, but
later returned.
“They want
to destroy property. They are tarnishing the Black Lives movement and they are
making a mockery out of Portland on the fucking world stage,” a furious Gow
told the Guardian.
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