Good morning, it is entirely too early to be alive never mind awake and I am undercover in Salem, Oregon, where a bunch of far right activists have gathered to protest the state government's decision to close their legislative session to the public today.
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And holy shit things got real IMMEDIATELY
They just tried to force their way into the building. Fights with cops. A great deal of mace. Footage incoming
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The cops have retreated inside the building and closed an internal door. The hallway is full of mace. The right wingers are gearing up to go in. It's spicy as fuck in there. They keep going in and then back out
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Having trouble uploading long clips, oh boy do I have a lot but shit is moving too fast
Happening now: gentleman with AR-15s standing at the entrance
Someone saw "a Chinese person" in the window earlier. The claim now is that the Chinese are inside the building, which is why they don't want us inside
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One of the senators just called someone out here and promised to address the crowd. We'll see
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ThrbSenator from Roseburg is here. He says we have every right to be in that building, and that refusing to allow the crowd in is treason. It is against God and country
"Anyone who says otherwise is an elitist and a tyrant!"
"Than let us in!" Someone yells
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Someone suggests we arrest everyone inside. The senator tells the people to vote the Dems out
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Telling people who believe the election was rigged to vote is certainly an interesting choice
It's going over about as well as you'd expect
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Chandler Pappas takes the megaphone as the senator disappears somewhere. "This is America! No one tells us what we can and cannot do!"
"Get a rope!!" Someone shouts
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The senator is back. "This won't change things!" He says
"Easy to say that when we pay your salary!!"
"Hey, he's on our side!!"
"No he isn't!"
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Chandler Pappas: "Are you here to listen to this guy talk or to make a difference?!"
Cheers
"Lets go in!!!"
The crowd evades the hallway, which has finally reached a tolerable level of spiciness
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We've been in here for a hot second. Luckily for the troopers they are protected by the one thing the far right loves more than anything: glass windows
Massive numbers of troopers behind the door. Pappas waa kicking the doors earlier but things have calmed down slightly
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Someone yells that we need to burn the Back the Blue flags. Others call the cops Nazis and Brownshirts
Confused about what rally I'm at
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Door opened a crack and some kind of conversation ensued. People now pounding the walls and chanting "Let us in!!"
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Someone is yelling about how they have no money and no jobs and look when they're right they're right
Shit is intolerable right now. Everyone is suffering. This is what happens when a government abandons the people
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Talk turning to revolution. Abolishing a government that no longer serve the people. Door still cracked. A call for everyone with gas masks to go to the front
"Consider this a warning. Next time we aren't gonna be so nice and we ain't playing" Pappas says
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"we are all Americans! We all deserve freedom!" Joey Gibson yells repeatedly
"We aren't all the same now, Joey!"
Someone calls for Kate Brown to stop human trafficking. Someone else decries the government's focus on curbside pickup of liquor rather than catching pedophiles
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As soon as the anthem finished the crowd starts chanting USA and swarms the door. Pappas finally pries it open and the police immediately respond with pepper balls. The wimpy ones that smell like baby powder. I don't even feel the need to leave
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Always interesting to see who runs and who says when the munitions come out
It's a standoff now. Chand: "enemies of the state!"
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"We went to Back the Blue Rallies for 8 months and this is what we get!?"
Someone is learning that the police are tools of the state
The crowd hates the cops as much as any leftist right now
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"you're heaving birthday parties while you shut us down!"
It's important to understand that they rage is real, and that some of it is extremely legit. There's desperation and fear here because people have no way to survive
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Chant: "Arrest Kate Brown!!"
Door still open. Cops in a mini line just inside, several rows deep
They sure are showing a lot of restraint. Could easily fill the corridor with mace right now. Of course they aren't
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Someone is changing "this is what democracy looks like," I can't get away from my least favorite chant no matter where I go
I've said it before: protests are what it looks like when democracy fails
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The police are fine with the current state of affairs. Everyone shouting at them. Shouting is fine. They can stand there and get shouted at all day. As long as no one charges, they get to chill and collect their checks
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The fire alarm is now going off and people flee en masse for reasons that confuse me
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People drifting back now. I guess the revolution won't be deferred by a loud and startling noise after all
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The hallway is packed again. The police are threatening to declare this an unlawful assembly, which, can you imagine the police politely telling a leftist that?
Shit
Anyway, not declared yet
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The cops said someone would address the crowd if it went back outside and the crowd very sensibly pointed out they could address us right here
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There is a guy with a fucking bullwhip hand to God, I will post pics later
Kinky
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Someone just pointed out that the police don't have bodycams. "That means they can do whatever the fuck they want!
We've been trying to tell you assholes that for years
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They've found a ladder and placed jr longways on front of the door
Still not an unlawful assembly. Obviously
They're reciting the pledge of allegiance now
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The far right protesters keep saying this is how Nazi Germany started and they're right but not in the way they mean
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