Judge Issues Restraining Order Against Federal Agents in Portland
ACLU claims agents 'relentlessly attacking observers, journalists'


By Voice of America Friday, July 24, 2020

A judge has issued a restraining order against federal agents deployed in Portland, Oregon, who U.S. President Donald Trump said he sent to protect federal property against anti-police and anti-racism protesters.

Responding to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon blocked agents from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, or using force against legal observers and journalists.

“This order is a victory for the rule of law,” the interim director of the ACLU’s Oregon office, Jann Carson, said. “Federal agents from Trump’s departments of Homeland Security and Justice are terrorizing the community, threatening lives, and relentlessly attacking journalists and legal observers documenting protests. These are the actions of a tyrant, and they have no place anywhere in America.”

There has been no reaction so far from Trump the administration.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was tear-gassed early Thursday morning when federal agents tried to break up a protest the U.S. federal courthouse in Portland.

Wheeler coughed and was dazed, telling others he had never been tear-gassed before, but was otherwise unhurt.

Some demonstrators who did not want the mayor there, yelled at him, chanting “Shame on you,” believing he could be doing a better job to protect the city from federal forces.

But Wheeler has said he wants the agents to leave, calling their presence an abuse of federal authority and an incitement for violence.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Thursday an investigation into the use of force by federal agents in Portland and Washington, where tear gas was used to clear an area across from the White House last month before Trump crossed the street to stand in front of a church.

Also on Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari announced an investigation into allegations of improper behavior by DHS law enforcement in Portland last week.

Demonstrators have marched in Portland every day for nearly two months responding to the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in custody of white police in Minneapolis. Although the protests have been mostly peaceful, there have been instances of violence, arson and vandalism.

Federal law enforcement agents are being dispatched as part of Operation Legend to Chicago after a surge in gang violence that has left about 100 dead in the last several weeks. Agents are also being sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Kansas City, Missouri.

The mayors of these three cities and 12 others have sent a letter to federal authorities calling for the immediate withdrawal of their forces and to “agree to no further unilateral deployments in U.S. cities.”

David Chipman, a senior policy adviser at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told VOA that when he was an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “I was proud to work with local leaders when they needed help righting wrongs.”

Chipman said Trump’s recent actions in Portland and his statements about problems in other cities “make clear he thinks federal law enforcement are his personal chess pieces for partisan power grabs.”




Federal Forces ‘On Standby’ to Enter Seattle
Tatical unit ready to aid local police as city spirals out of control

By RT Friday, July 24, 2020

A tactical unit of federal agents has been placed on standby in Seattle to aid police should protests there spiral into unrest or rioting, the New York Times reported, a move that comes amid heated objections from local officials.

A Special Response Team operating under the authority of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was reportedly dispatched to Seattle on Thursday, as a ‘precautionary’ measure.

“The CBP team will be on standby in the area, should they be required,” the Federal Protective Service said in a statement about the operation. An agency spokesman who declined to be named, told the NYT that the border agents were sent to back up other law enforcement in protecting federal buildings, but would only be called into the streets if protests escalate to unrest.

The decision mirrors similar efforts in Portland, where federal agents have squared off with protesters in recent days, amid weeks of heated demonstrations there that have frequently seen violent clashes between activists and law enforcement.

Earlier on Thursday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee insisted no federal agents would be used in the city, stressing that he did not want to see a repeat of Portland – where reports of ‘unmarked officers snatching protesters off the street’ have evoked sharp public outcry and clashes with the feds.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has voiced similar opposition to the use of federal law enforcers, however it isn’t clear if they will be able to prevent the deployment, as Oregon officials have taken up similar objections to no avail.

The federal units are part of a Department of Homeland Security task force created by US President Donald Trump in June. In an executive order, Trump mandated the protection of federal property and monuments – which have become frequent targets for anti-racism and police brutality protesters across the US – seeing officers from a slew of federal agencies deployed in various cities to back up local police departments.

Though most of those operations have been short-lived – some lasting only through the July 4 weekend, for example – Portland has seen a much longer deployment, as agents remain there to defend a government property besieged by protesters, including a federal courthouse.

Seattle has seen a wave of demonstrations since the death of George Floyd in a botched arrest attempt in late May, with protesters taking over the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood for several weeks earlier this summer after police abandoned the area.

While city officials initially put up little resistance to the occupied zone – known as CHOP for short – the ‘cop-free’ encampment was dismantled after some five separate shooting incidents and several deaths.

NOW: Antifa Militants and Black Lives Matter rioters are breaking into Amazon Go Downtown Seattle. This protest has turned into a riot. #SeattleProtest #AntifaDomesticTerrorists #seattleriots #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/RH8u56fCGP

— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) July 19, 2020

#HappeningNow – SDOT workers place cement barricades (Ecology Blocks) outside of the Seattle Police West Precinct in downtown Seattle. pic.twitter.com/P4rssuwMLm

— Omari Salisbury (@Omarisal) July 23, 2020

The protests have not abated, however, as activists continue to take to the streets and escalate the demonstrations, some seen smashing up storefronts and a police station within the last week.