PORTLAND — Portland Mayor Charlie Hales canceled a City Council meeting Wednesday amid a “continuing disruption” from a group of protesters with Don’t Shoot PDX.
Hales rescheduled the meeting for 1 p.m. today, but his office said it would be held behind closed doors with “limited” public access.
Tera Pierce, Hales’ chief of staff, said the meeting is legal as long as the general public can listen in or watch. “We will provide that,” she said.
The protesters disrupted Wednesday’s meeting before the council could hear testimony for the second consecutive week on a new contract with the city’s rank-and-file police union.
As of 2:30 p.m., City Hall remained on lockdown with police throughout the building. A couple dozen protesters were still sitting inside the darkened council chambers. Two people were arrested, officials confirmed. Shortly after 3 p.m., a Facebook Live stream showed protesters leaving the chambers and then City Hall.
Brendan Finn, Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s chief of staff, said the council took a recess after frequent council attendee Joe Walsh interrupted public testimony by shouting at the elected officials.
The council called a recess, then briefly returned in an attempt to reconvene. Finn said a couple protesters were then arrested.
“I’m not entirely sure what happened then,” Finn said.
Pierce said the mayor’s office was aware of the protest. She said activists had planned to occupy City Hall. Some had arrived with coffee. They advertised the event on Facebook.
“We knew it was coming,” she said.
Police leaders and Hales’ top staff had met in recent days with Don’t Shoot PDX members, Pierce said. They had gone over the police contract and the group’s concerns “almost line by line,” Pierce said.
Pierce said the mayor’s office was “optimistic” it could avoid disruptions Wednesday.
Police would receive pay raises under the three-year deal. But the activists opposed draft language for a body camera policy, which was developed behind closed doors in recent weeks, and other provisions.
Some came to testify on later agenda items, including the city’s 20-year plan for growth and development. Others said they were just trying to buy coffee from the City Hall café. City employees, a pizza delivery man and several journalists also failed to get in.
Outside, about 10 people said they would stay until the two arrested activists were released. One woman rang a cowbell in an attempt to annoy the lone security worker left inside the City Hall lobby. Others pumped their fist in support as protestors still inside the chambers looked out the window onto Southwest Fourth Avenue.
Pierce said Hales’ office plans to move forward with today’s meeting but it will largely be held behind closed doors. The council meeting will be live-streamed on the internet, on public-access television and in the nearby Portland Building’s auditorium on the second floor.
Protesters and other citizens who signed up to testify on the police contract and other council matters will be allowed into the chambers to speak to the council.
But the general audience will be limited, Pierce said, with the blessing of the city attorney. Portland State University trustees moved a March vote on a controversial tuition hike behind closed doors after a protest.
The public comment period, which was interrupted Wednesday before each person who had signed up weeks in advance to testify, will continue as planned.
One of those folks signed up to testify, David Kif Davis, will be invited back to council chambers.
Davis was one of two people arrested Wednesday and booted from City Hall for 24 hours.
“He was excluded today, and he was arrested today,” Pierce said, “but he gets to come back tomorrow.”
