Owner of Cider Riot sues Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson for $1M

The owner of Portland bar Cider Riot is suing Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson for $1 million, claiming Gibson and several other right-wing protesters showed up at the business on Wednesday and fought with customers, causing mayhem and physical injury to at least one person.

Abram Goldman-Armstrong, who owns Cider Riot, is suing the Patriot Prayer organization as well as Gibson, Ian Kramer and 25 others who he says were involved in the incident. The claims include negligence, trespass and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

On Wednesday, Cider Riot hosted a May Day celebration, at which people who had participated in demonstrations earlier in the day gathered to listen to live music. About 20 right-wing protesters, including Gibson, arrived at the business, and a clash between them and patrons of Cider Riot ensued. Video of the incident shows people deploying pepper spray, and several people fighting. According to the lawsuit, Kramer, a frequent Patriot Prayer rally participant, hit a female patron of Cider Riot on the head with a baton and knocked her unconscious.

On Friday, Goldman-Armstrong said he couldn’t comment further on the lawsuit. The organization representing him, the Oregon Justice Resource Center, issued a statement saying that Goldman-Armstrong had the right to operate his business in peace, and that Portland residents had been “terrorized” by Gibson and his associates for too long.

“Our community is suffering and we must respond to the seriousness of the threat posed by the actions and words of white nationalists, white supremacists and the alt-right,” the group said. “We need to send a message that their brand of hate is not welcome in Portland.”

In response to the suit, Gibson said he was the one who was assaulted while standing on a public sidewalk.

“I walk into dangerous situations, I never fight back,” he told the Oregonian/OregonLive. He said his intention in going to Cider Riot that day was to take video and show the event that Cider Riot was hosting. He said the event was co-hosted by Rose City antifa.

“To me it’s very odd that a place serving alcohol has 80 people masked up,” he said.

He said when he got there, people were drinking on the patio and wearing masks, and several had cans of bear spray. He says neither he nor the people he came with had spray or any sort of weapons, although video footage shows people from both groups deploying bear spray, and members of the group that came with Gibson throwing projectiles at the bar patrons.

Goldman-Armstrong said this is not the first time Gibson and Patriot Prayer have targeted his business. He said they have sprayed graffiti on his building and stolen a flag that hung in front of the business.