PORTLAND — Thousands of demonstrators and counter protesters converged in downtown Portland on Sunday, a day marked by multiple arrests and clashes between police and protesters.
A pro-President Donald Trump free speech rally drew several hundred to a plaza near City Hall more than a week after two Portland men were fatally stabbed trying to stop a man from shouting anti-Muslim insults at two teenage girls on a light-rail train.
That rally was met across the street by hundreds of counter-protesters organized by immigrant rights, religious and labor groups. They said they wanted to make a stand against hate and racism.
Portland police said Sunday evening that 14 people were arrested, and several dozen knives, bricks, sticks and other weapons were seized.
By late afternoon, police closed nearby Chapman Square where a separate group of protesters — many wearing masks and black clothing and identified as anti-fascists — also demonstrated. Police used flash-bang grenades and pepper balls to disperse that crowd after saying protesters were hurling bricks and other objects at officers.
The people gathered at the free speech rally organized by the conservative group Patriot Prayer and counter-protesters at City Hall were not involved in those clashes, police said.
After several dozen demonstrators began marching north of the initial rally locations, police officers moved in and blocked them. They detained a large crowd in the street, including several journalists.
People identified as participating in criminal activity would be arrested, police said. Everyone else was eventually released after officers took photographs of their identification.
Sunday’s event was organized by the group Patriot Prayer and billed as Trump Free Speech Rally in “one of the most liberal areas of the West Coast.”
Rally organizer Joey Gibson held a moment of silence for the two men who were stabbed to death and pleaded with the crowd to refrain from violence. He later told them that his goal is to wake up the liberty movement. “It’s OK to be a conservative in Portland,” he said.
Last week Mayor Ted Wheeler unsuccessfully tried to have the permit for the free speech rally revoked, saying it could further inflame tensions following the May 26 stabbings.
The suspect in the light-rail stabbings, Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, attended a similar rally in late April wearing an American flag around his neck and carrying a baseball bat. Police confiscated the bat, and he was then caught on camera clashing with counter-protesters.
In a video posted on Facebook, Gibson condemned Christian and acknowledged that some rallies have attracted “legitimate Nazis.” He described Christian as “all crazy” and “not a good guy.”
