Showdown between Occupy Portland, police

Protesters chant slogans as they walk near the Occupy Portland camp November 12, 2011 in Portland, Oregon. / Natalie Behring/Getty Images

Last Updated 8:59 p.m. ET

PORTLAND, Ore. - Several hundred protesters, some wearing goggles and gas masks, marched past authorities in a downtown street Sunday, hours after riot police drove Occupy Portland demonstrators out of a pair of weeks-old encampments in nearby parks.

Police moved in shortly before noon and drove protesters into the street after dozens remained in the camp in defiance city officials. Mayor Sam Adams had ordered that the camp shut down Saturday at midnight, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment's attraction of drug users and thieves.

More than 50 protesters were arrested in the afternoon police action, said Portland police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson on KGW-TV.

The number of demonstrators began to swell following the raid and increased throughout the afternoon. By early evening, hundreds of officers brandishing nightsticks stood shoulder-to-shoulder to hold the protesters back. Authorities retreated as protesters broke the standoff by marching through the streets.

In the hours after the midnight eviction deadline, the anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters had flooded the park area even as authorities in other cities across the nation stepped up pressure against demonstrators, arresting dozens of people.

At one point overnight, the Portland crowd swelled to thousands. As dawn arrived, riot police had retreated and most of the crowds had gone home, but protesters who have been at the two parks since Oct. 6 were still there, prompting one organizer to declare the night a victory for the movement.

"We stood up to state power," Jim Oliver told The Associated Press.

Police moved in later as demonstrators held a midday "general assembly" meeting to discuss their next moves. An officer on a loudspeaker warned that anyone who resisted risked arrest and "may also be subject to chemical agents and impact weapons." Demonstrators chanted "we are a peaceful protest."

"We were talking about what we were going to do and then they just started hitting people. Seems like a waste of resources to me," protester Mike Swain, 27, told the AP.

One man was taken away on a stretcher; he was alert and talking to paramedics, and raised a peace sign to fellow protesters, who responded with cheers.

Choya Adkison, 30, said police moved in after giving demonstrators a false sense of calm. They thought they had time to rest, relax and regroup, she said

"Camp was completely vulnerable, completely defenseless" when police moved in, she said. "I'm disappointed that they created a sense of trust by walking away and then completely trampled it."

Riot police are engulfed in a mass of defiant protestors at the Occupy Portland camp November 13, 2011 in Portland, Oregon.

/ Natalie Behring/Getty Images

City officials erected temporary barbed-wire fences around three adjacent downtown parks, choking off access for demonstrators as parks officials cleaned up.

"I think most people will go home or go about their day," Simpson told the television station.

Even ahead of the police raid, the camp was a shadow of what it had been before Saturday. A large segment of campers were homeless people drawn to the free food and shelter offered by Occupy Portland. They are gone, after outreach workers went through the camp to help them find shelter elsewhere.

And as the Saturday midnight eviction deadline neared, protesters themselves began dismantling tents.

Around 4 a.m., dozens of police formed a line across from demonstrators who had poured into the street. Protesters facing them appeared to be in festive spirits with some banging on drums and plastic pails, another clanging a cowbell while others danced in the streets as a man juggled nearby.

On Sunday at an impromptu news conference, the mayor defended his order to clear the park, saying it is his job to enforce the law and keep the peace. "This is not a game," Adams said.

Officials said that one officer suffered minor injuries when he was hit by some kind of projectile in the leg. Police had prepared for a possible clash, warning that dozens of anarchists may be planning a confrontation with authorities. Officers seized pieces of cement blocks Friday, saying they were told some demonstrators had plans to use them as weapons against police.

Also Sunday, for the third time in three days, city officials in Oakland, California, warned protesters that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza in front of City Hall and face immediate arrest. Police did not respond to requests for comment on whether officers were preparing to forcibly clear the camp.

The eviction notices come as officials across the country urged an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire. Demands for Oakland protesters to pack up increased after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the encampment site.

Police officials have said a preliminary investigation suggested the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the encampment. Investigators do not know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but protesters said there was no connection between the shooting and the camp.

The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-old military veteran apparently committed suicide in a tent at a Burlington, Vermont, Occupy encampment. Police said a preliminary investigation showed the veteran fatally shot himself in the head. They said the death raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue.

In other "Occupy" developments:

Salt Lake City, Utah: Police arrested 19 people Saturday when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a man was found dead inside his tent at the encampment. The arrests came after police moved into the park early in the evening where protesters had been ordered to leave by the end of the day. About 150 people had been living in the camp there for weeks.

Albany, N.Y.: Police arrested 24 Occupy Albany protesters after they defied an 11 p.m. curfew in a state-owned park. State police officials hauled away the protesters after warning them with megaphones that they were breaking the law in Lafayette Park. They were charged with trespassing.

Denver, Colo.: Authorities forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment and arrested four people for interfering with officers who removed illegally pitched tents, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.

San Francisco, Calif.: Police said two demonstrators attacked two police officers in separate incidents during a march on Saturday. Police spokesman Carlos Manfredi said a protester slashed an officer's hand with a pen knife while another protester shoved an officer, causing facial cuts. He said neither officer was seriously hurt, and the assailants couldn't be located.

[dlhermes]

There was violence and he is in the hospital still. it was also reported that the cops were hitting young girls as well. dont let the news skew things. its all skewed because they are told what to show and not show..

[dlhermes]

My very good friend Justin Bridges was beaten at the Occupy Portland Oregon movement. He was an interpreter for the hearing impaired there. I just got off of the phone with him and so the story is not skewed. He is hospitalized and still numb in his hand and right leg. As the cops came to shut down the movement 7,000 people showed up and the cops backed down. They then came back the next night as the camp had resumed its normal size.. They pushed him up against a cement trashcan and he told them he has had a broken back, and not to push but they slammed him on the ground, and put their knees into his back. Justin put his hands behind his back to get cuffed. He was going peacefully and they bent his arms all the way up, tried to break his fingers. They said he was resisting arrest because his legs became numb and he couldn't stand when they told him to get up. They got him zip-tied and got even more violent, because he couldn't stand and dragged him by his elbows. The bandana that was around his head got pulled his neck and they pull him by that. He said the last thing he remembers is him saying that he can't breathe and they said if he can talk then he can breathe and then he passed out. He woke up looking up at trees as they were putting him on a stretcher to the hospital. This is such a good person with a good heart. Please keep him in your thoughts and send all of your positive vibes his way. Its too bad that his own people in his own country would do this.. he said on the first night the cops tried to shut it down and they were all lined up in their riot gear he was one of the front people in the line. He stared at the cop across from him face to face and the cop had tears in his eyes. Some do have a soul, they are just "doing their job" makes no sense to me. xoxo justin your in my thoughts!

[taizy8]

Be careful how you judge people who are less well off as you too are not immune from a change in your status. Ask yourself where you may be if you lost your job or your life savings ? After Argentina defaulted it was the middle classes that got wiped out and are now in the streets scavenging.

Laissez-faire capitalism over the past 30 years - and particularly since 2000 has exponentially enriched the top percentage in society who will continue to suck up more - your retirement savings too !

Don't shoot the messenger - of course it's the young and out of work who are on the streets - they have nothing to lose, but you do..

[noloyalisti]

Occupy Together craps bigger than Portland. It's freakin' everywhere. We are occupying the street, we are occupying the courts, we are occupying your offices.

CHECK THIS OUT!. A very talented and famous singer/songwriter played this song at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Hawaii. Obama and many other world leaders were there. Is this the new ballad for the Occupy Everywhere Revolution? Simple and good. Awesome and powerful!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/13/1036083/-AWESOME:-Artist-Performs-99-er-Song-in-Front-of-Obama-World-Leaders-at-APEC-Conf-(W-Video)?via=siderec

[sjj1222]

They will try to sabotage OWS. They will try to co-opt OWS. They will try to smear OWS. They will try to infiltrate and destroy OWS from within. They will not succeed. These governors, mayors, city councils, police chiefs, and street cops of America need to realize that it is NOT UP TO THEM?whether or not Americans peaceably gather, protest, discuss, or demonstrate. It's up to a document called the US CONSTITUTION. You can beat us and arrest us and tear-gas us, you can try to "permit" us to death....but you can't kill an idea. You can't keep down a people's hopes and dreams for a better life....for us, and for our kids. America USED to work. The people had work. The system worked. Hey, EVEN the Congress used to work (sometimes). God knows, it was far, far, far from perfect -but at least we all had some share in the struggles AND the rewards. But somewhere along the way, we lost our way. Because now we have an economy and a political system that seems to work only for the rich. With OWS America has found it's voice, and that voice demands fairness and justice - for ALL. This land IS our land! AND WE WANT IT BACK! We want our LIVES back! We want our FUTURE back! But it's much more than just words.... it's much more than politics..... it's your freakin' LIFE, and how you want to live it, and how you will live it. Find a quiet place somewhere, and consider this: Each of us has only one brief life....one chance....one roll of the dice....and many choices. The time has come to choose....to risk...and to act. If not now...then when? If not you, then....who? You DO have the power my friend....and the choice IS yours. Don't let your dreams die....

[Kiekie752]

Does anyone think of all the pets and stray animals within range of tear gas, that are poisoned by it and die. People return home from work, in teargassed neighborhoods, only to discover their pet, trapped in the house or apartment, died as if they were locked in a gas chamber.

I bet these "oh woe is me' protesters don't think of the aftermath from their violent behavior; such as what teargas will do to innocent pets.

I say: 'Don't use teargas ... fire hose these brats!

[berlinfoto-2009]

The police use "Water Cannon" here in Germany, They blinded a man in both eyes last year, with their "Water Cannon" during a peaceful demonstration.
Water Cannon is the same as a fire hose. Why do you not support the protestors? Do you understand that American Jobs have been exported to China and India? and their are no longer enough jobs to go around?
What exactly is your proposed solution, to unemployment? Gas Chambers for the unemployed?

[14FREEK]

Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit

By ADAM LIPTAK

January 21, 2010

WASHINGTON — Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations (which includes international corporations) in candidate elections. Will the Supreme Court's campaign finance decision damage democracy?

The 5-to-4 decision was a vindication, the majority said, of the First
Amendment's most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said that
allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace would
corrupt democracy.

{ECONOMYSTIC EXTRAORDINAIRE EDITORIAL}
This was the beginning of the END. The Supreme Court ruled that corporations can contribute as much money as they want to any political party, campaign or contender. Even if, the revulsion we are witnessing, could be changed it would literally take an act of congress; however, why would they do that? This ruling put the foxes in charge of the henhouse. In economics we call it an agency problem. Again, this would take legal action to rectify. Do you see THE problem with that?

[alaskan1st]

Truly. That supreme court decision guarantees that ALL politicians MUST be Corporate prostitutes to get elected. We The People, are no longer constituents.

[14FREEK]

I love my country; it is the government I am not crazy about. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We see a lot of this kind of thing lately. Why is that? "Where there is smoke there is fire." There seems to be more and more people who are concerned with the direction our country is taking.

[grazor50]

great news! The government has sided forces with outside city limits law enforcement to curb the unlawful acts of the protesters and now encompass in the thousands to get their point across. At the same time, while government gives away public retirement (social security),enables millions in bonuses to failed gov. entities (fanny mae, freddie mac ) but yet decides these protestors are a more important concern. Maybe the protests have the right idea, stop working and paying into a system that is so full of corruption and demands more only to give it away as entitlements to those that want from those that have!

[lami987]

US mayors are so power oriented and police are so violent and abusive they have completely ignore negotiation with protesters. They should be able to work out some form of agreements to have the protesters stay in the parks they want and still keep the parks clean and safe. Why do they have to insist that parks have to close at certain hours of the day? There are all kinds of drug problems, murders, burglaries etc. etc. all across some areas in all US cities but no mayor has sent in police in riot gears to keep those crimes under control. In fact cops in many cities try to avoid going into those high crime areas where they are needed most. But mayors and police are so brave and brutal in facing unarmed protesters. Do they want protesters to arm themselves before they behave? Police facing those rioters in Penn State fiasco didn't make a single arrest even after rioters overturn cars and break windows. May be mayors and police only respect violence.

[14FREEK]

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg with a net worth of $18.1 billion in 2011, is also the 13th-richest person in the United States.