A number of Portland activists upset with the Portland Police Bureau's heavy-handed response to Friday's nonviolent Inauguration Day protests are staging small, fluid protests throughout the city today because Police Chief Mike Marshman is still on the job.
A group on Monday demanded Mayor Ted Wheeler fire Marshman by Tuesday night or else there'd be a number protests on Wednesday throughout the city: "There must be a concession from City Hall. The people are demanding that Mayor Wheeler immediately fire Chief Mike Marshman and hold true to the platform of police accountability on which he campaigned."
Activists—still riled up about the less-lethal rounds fired, the "Stingball" grenades hurled, and the tear gas set off on Friday—packed a clubhouse in Portland on Monday night to plan for things to do Wednesday should Marshman not be fired. They talked about small groups throughout the city temporarily blocking roads, bridges, and economic hubs and then move on to something else. The goal was, essentially, to screw with the police.
It's already been a semi-chaotic day, as Mayor Wheeler shut down Portland City Council because of protests.
Here's the announcement from Fight Church Media about their demand an today's protest:
On the night of Jan 20th, the Portland Police used government trained marksmen to brazenly shoot peaceful protestors in the face with rubber bullets and turned Pioneer Courthouse Square into a teargas saturated futuristic war zone.
This is shameful, inexcusable and unforgivable – even moreso considering that this was the most peaceful protest Portland has seen in months and the fact that new Mayor Ted Wheeler has only been in office for 3 weeks.
There must be a concession from City Hall.
The people are demanding that Mayor Wheeler immediately fire Chief Mike Marshman and hold true to the platform of police accountability on which he campaigned.
Activist voices from around the city are united in pressing this demand by calling for multiple decentralized DIY acts of civil disobedience all over the city with continuous actions starting wednesday morning and continuing indefinitely – until Wheeler does the right thing.
Community members are being encouraged to form their own direct action affinity groups, identify their own leaders and tackling whatever form of protest suits their size and experience levels. For some it may be as simple as shutting down a local intersection for a length of time, for others there are the usual larger targets. There are no larger leaders, no code of conduct and only a single demand – fire Chief Marshman.
This action is modelled after the Chelsea Manning protests which simultaneously shut down all Army recruiting in Portland, Beaverton and Gresham for a day; and the Cop-Free Christmas which used a TriMet bus to block the intersection of Cesar E Chavez and Belmont for over an hour.
If Chief Marshman has not been relieved of his duties by midnight on Tuesday the 24th,
these city wide protests will begin in earnest early Wednesday morning with simultaneous actions on all bridges crossing the Willamette and popping up throughout the day and days following.This is an autonomous action and there is no one to contact for further information, nor will there be anyone to blame for what happens other than the Mayor.
We'll have more coverage later.