Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile)

It is exceedingly surreal to be walking through downtown Portland in body armor at 11 in the goddamn morning. I did not intend to ever wear body armor again but here we are HUGE thank you to @JFlorencePDX for loaning me this body armor and flak helmet

We've got one counter protester who is really letting the guy with the Gadsden Flag have it. Gadsden Flag holder remaining very calm, flashing the peace sign

"when one side shuts down the other, that's fascism!" As someone who has studied fascism extensively I can say with absolute authority that this definition is not even remotely fascism

13 right-wing protesters, about 10 counter protesters. I'm not seeing any guns so far A patrol of 3 cops is wandering about but keeping their distance

While the rally consists mostly of screaming back and forth I'm gonna opine on something I've observed over the last 3 years of far-right protests in Portland There's a very precise way the far right likes to run these protests

They work to get counter protesters to expect violence. In this case they didn't have to do much work, since Skylor did it for them a week ago by firing into the crowd Then they show up and talk about peace. Loudly and relentlessly

The idea is to create propaganda where, to someone who doesn't understand the context of the situation, the left looks unhinged, unreasonable, and anti-free-speech Then they take videos and people like Ngo share them I wrote 200 pages about this for my undergrad thesis

Anyway, probably 20 protesters now

Reports of American Wolf inboundhttps://twitter.com/OccupiedSeattle/status/1297241913464991744?s=19 …

https://twitter.com/PNWResistance/status/1297241854811897857?s=19 …

The far right rally has set up a terrible speaker system. I cannot hear a word they're saying. Something about a 10-year-old child

A couple water bottles thrown at the far right. They have not hit anyone

Another small group of far right protesters by Terry Schrunk Plaza. @IwriteOK tells me Haley Adams might be over there I wonder if they've been asked to keep their distance after what happened last week

Police respectfully ask the two groups to remain on opposite side of the street. Super weird to hear the LRAD so friendly. Almost like they have more affection for the people in front of the JC today than other citizens who have historically protested here

An activist of color stands with her back to the far right and decries the aggression of the counteprotesters and demands they take several steps back It is my analysis that this is not where the aggression is coming from "You do not represent us!!" a megaphone shouts

"don't listen to Rhianna Coleman, she is a far-right agitator! You do not need to listen to her!"

Situation: extremely tense but controlled for now. Battle lines drawn. The far right has copied shield wall tactics, which is keeping a pretty clear boundary between the protest and counter-protest