Are You SAFE in Donald Trump America ?
Portland clashes: Trump accused of encouraging
violence after shooting
Police say it was not clear if shooting was linked to
fights between protesters and caravan of Trump supporters
Ed
Pilkington and Joanna Walters and agencies
Mon 31 Aug
2020 02.54 BSTFirst published on Sun 30 Aug 2020 07.07 BST
Portland
mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday slammed Donald Trump, accusing the president of
encouraging the kind of violence that erupted in the city overnight when a
reported member of a rightwing group was shot dead after a group of Trump
supporters confronted Black Lives Matter protesters.
“What
America needs is for you to be stopped,” Wheeler said of Trump, after the
president tore into Wheeler on Twitter in the hours after the death and retweeted
video footage of his supporters in trucks firing paintballs and pepper spray at
protesters downtown.
His
sentiments were echoed in a statement by Democratic presidential nominee Joe
Biden in which he unequivocally condemned violence on all sides, while accusing
Trump of “recklessly encouraging” it.
“He may
believe tweeting about law and order makes him strong — but his failure to call
on his supporters to stop seeking conflict shows just how weak he is,” Biden’s
statement on Sunday said.
It wasn’t
clear if the shooting was linked to fights that broke out as some from the
procession of about 600 vehicles, many flying large “Trump 2020” flags, revved
and honked their way through narrow downtown streets, seeming to taunt
protesters in the cityon Saturday night. Some of the demonstrators threw
objects in response, especially after paintballs were fired towards the
sidewalks.
Later, an
Associated Press freelance photographer heard three gunshots and then observed
police medics working on the body of the victim, who appeared to be a white
man.
Portland
police officers “responded and located a victim with a gunshot wound to the
chest. Medical responded and determined that the victim was deceased,” the
department stated.
According
to police, the shooting happened at 8.46pm local time on Saturday. A video that
appears to have captured the incident, taken from the other side of the street,
shows a man wearing shorts approaching a car parking garage. Shots ring out and
the man falls to the ground.
Later it
was reported that the man had been wearing a Patriot Prayer hat bearing the
logo of a rightwing group.
Some
outlets have reported the identity of the victim, but his name was unconfirmed
by the authorities late on Sunday afternoon.
Joey
Gibson, head of the Washington State-based rightwing group, whose supporters
have intermittently clashed with left-wing protesters in Portland, said the man
killed was a “good friend.”
Trump
repeatedly tweeted criticism of Wheeler on Sunday.
Early
Sunday, Trump had retweeted video from a New York Times reporter on the scene
that showed substances aimed at protesters and journalists. Other footage
showed hundreds of cars rallying in a suburb before proceeding towards city.
Some diverted
into the downtown area, which had not been part of the original plan by the
caravan, which mainly stuck to other routes on the outskirts of the city, New
York Times reporter Mike Baker told CNN.
Trump also
dangled the national guard, which the White House normally authorizes on the
request of a state governor, together with a third-party tweet criticizing
Wheeler, who said on Sunday afternoon he had never met the president.
Wheeler
said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon: “President Trump, for four
years we have had to live with you and your racist attacks on Black people. We
learned early about your sexist attitudes towards women … we have listened to
your attacks on immigrants ... do you seriously wonder that America in decades
has not seen this level of violence?”
Wheeler, a
Democrat, said his heart was heavy over the tragedy in the city overnight, and
protests that have splintered on the fringes into sporadic violent unrest.
He urged
“those seeking retribution” for the death of the man overnight not to come to
Portland, blaming outside forces for coming into the city to foment violence.
And he
spoke of plans for reforms to criminal justice, education, housing and health
access in the city that he implored people to vote on and for groups to come
together, saying he would “reach across any aisle” to stop the violence and
start dialogue.
California
Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass said on Sunday morning that Trump’s tweets
about Portland and his plan to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the aftermath of a
white police officer shooting a gravely wounding a Black man, as part of the
president’s “law and order” election agenda would achieve the opposite
objective, intentionally.
“He is
going to do everything to disrupt law and order,” she told Dana Bash on CNN’s
State of the Union politics talk show on Sunday.
“You saw in
Portland Trump supporters actively shooting paintballs at protesters. Trump
encourages that,” she added.
Portland
has been the site of nightly protests for more than three months since the
police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Hundreds have been arrested by
local and federal law enforcement and, before the shooting, police made several
arrests Saturday and advised residents to avoid downtown.
The chaotic
scene came two days after Trump invoked Portland as a liberal city overrun with
violence in a speech at the Republican national convention as part of his “law
and order” re-election campaign theme. The caravan marked the third Saturday in
a row that Trump supporters have rallied in the city.
The latest
caravan convened after a group on Facebook had called on Trump supporters to
convene in the city under the banner “Trump 2020 Cruise Rally in Portland”.
The caravan
of Trump supporters had gathered earlier in the day at a nearby mall and drove
as a group to the heart of Portland. As they arrived in the city, bearing large
“Trump 2020” flags on the sides of their vehicles, protesters attempted to stop
them by standing in the street and blocking bridges.
Videos from
the scene showed sporadic fighting, as well as Trump supporters firing
paintball pellets at opponents and using bear spray as counter-protesters threw
things at the Trump caravan.
“There have
been some instances of violence between demonstrators and
counter-demonstrators,” Portland police said via Twitter. “Officers have
intervened and in some cases made arrests.”
The Black
Lives Matter demonstrations usually target police buildings and federal
buildings. Some protesters have called for reductions in police budgets while
the city’s mayor and some in the Black community have decried the violence,
saying it is counterproductive.
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