Category Archives: Antifa

Adam Duvernay|Register-Guard

Rarelocal episodes of violence and property destruction, videos of scenesout of Portland and asense the Black Lives Matter movement has been infiltrated by anarchists are driving some in Oregon to organizedandsometimes violent resistance.

In Eugene and Springfield, Black Lives Matter protesters now are more frequently met with opposition beyond the policepolice-supporting counterprotesters, often calling themselves patriots, who say their missionis keeping local neighborhoods safe.

Some have group affiliation. Some are just sympathetic to organized opposition to Black Lives Matter or other groups they perceive as threats. Some come to rallies and protests armed. Some come from out of town. Some are more than willing to fight protesters.

Many support President Trump and conspiracy theories about the federal government. Most see the Black Lives Matter movement as largely dangerous and misguided.

"The only thing that keeps the level of violence we're seeinginPortland from happening here is they simply do not have the numbers to do that here, and because we have been coming out, meeting them and facing them down. We're not going to allow it," said Tim Davis, a Springfield contractor affiliated with the group The American Patriots Society.

Groups like TAPS andWe the People of Lane County have attended or organizedlocal rallies and counterprotested Black Lives Matter events here and elsewhere as that movement gains longevity and daily scenes of clashes with police comefrom Portland.

"We're regular Americans that are coming together because we're afraid of what's going on against our country, against our businesses and against our families," Davis said.

But when belief meets fear, the potential for action rises, saidJoe Lowndes, a University of Oregon political science professor who's written extensively on right wingpolitics.

"The threat they describe is antifa as a terrorist organization and Black Lives Matter as a group that is only there to cause chaos," he said. "The dangeris they have created this imagined threat, and that authorizes the possibility of extreme violence in that moment."

Tyshawn Ford, a leader of local racial justice protest organization Black Unity, said his group rejects violence and destruction forits part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Though he said people of color may be righteous in using those protest tactics, he said he believes others merely are taking advantage of the movement for their own ends.

"They've been in quarantine. They just want something to do, to get that adrenaline from fighting the cops or breaking stuff," hesaid."That detracts from the movement 100%."

Despite what they say, Ford said he believes people like Davis actually know better.

"Counterprotesters ask us all the time if we're antifa. I think it's just an ignorant question," Ford said. "We don't go out covering our identities. We put on community events. We come out and show our faces. Anyone that's antifa is not going to do that."

There was a riot in Minneapolis after a white police officer there killed George Floyd, a Black man,during a May 25arrest by pressing his knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Many protests remained peaceful, but downtown Minneapolis from May 27-29 was subjected to looting and property damage. Rioters burned down a police precinct.

The night of May 29,protesters in Eugene marched for the first time. The march itself was loud, went against traffic and set the tone for most protests that would follow hundreds of bodies chanting the names of people of color killed by police nationwide.

But at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Washington Street, the march stopped and some in the crowd set fires in the street with dumpsters,city property and signs torn from local local shops. An hour later, people brokein and looted nearby businesses.

Eugene police declared a riot.

Eugene police recently arrested 11 and are looking for more than 60 suspects.

Since May 29, there have been more daysthan not with some form of local activism, but no local protests, except for the night of July 25,included widespread property damage.

Those who support Black Lives Matter say marchers arefighting for racial justice.

"The movement is just going to get stronger from here. It may not be in the way of marches, but definitely our ability to capitalize on what's happening," Ford said.

In a small area of Portland over more than 60 days, however, authorities have declared a riot more than a dozen times. Images of clashes with police, tear gas cloudsand often violent arrests of the protesters there have been splashed daily across national news.

In Seattle, Austin, Oakland and elsewhere, similar scenes of violent clashes with police have played out over the summer. But across the country and Oregon, the vast majority of demonstrations are peaceful protests calling for police reform and racial justice.

How those protests and riots have been portrayed varies by outlet and viewership. But such images have played a role in promoting organization against Black Lives Matter.

Davis sees no distinction between the wider Black Lives Matter movement, powered largely by local leaders and lacking nationwide marching orders, and antifa, shorthand for a loose affiliation of far-left militant anti-fascists that resist right-wing demonstrations.

Trump has branded antifa a terroristgroup despite its inherently unorganized nature.

Ford says counterprotesters at their marches now are a frequent occurrence.

"Now it's like every protest ... " Ford said.

He believes the appearance of right-wing counterprotesters at Black Unity and other marches truly started with the July 25 protest outside the U.S. Courthouse in Eugene.

They showed up at the Black Lives Matter protest, some carrying firearms and the set of homemade plywood riot shields made up to look like protest signs that they have carried into multiple protests and rallies. The two sides squared off near the federal courthouse, exchanging competing chants and taunts.

Then ashot was fired intothe air. A Black Lives Matter protester threw water on a counterprotester who fired a Taser in response. There were fights. Two men pointed guns at each other. A motorcycle sped through the crowd. They spilled onto Mill Street.

Though the two sides eventually broke apart, Black Lives Matter protesters continued on to the Lane County Jail where police ordered them to disperse, which they then did.

But before the night was done, many people had vandalized parts of downtown, includingbreaking the windows of the Wells Fargo bank and tagging walls and city sidewalks with spray-painted graffiti. Though some protest leaders called for destructive behavior to end, Eugene police eventually declared a riot as the vandalism continued.

"That triggered the counterprotesters coming out more to'protect' their city," Ford said.

Five days later, Black Unity brought a protest to Springfield's Thurston neighborhood. Their march was a reaction to accusations of racism leveled by a Black resident against her neighbor, who hadhanged a Halloween decoration skeleton with a noose in his yard.

The noose, a terrifying image from America's history of racial lynchings, has been used in more recent times as a hate symbol. In Thurston, the skeleton's owner said his was just one of the many Halloween decorations he keeps up year round, not a racist icon.

He told The Register-Guard before the march that he'd been threatened over the noose.

"I'm a combat veteran with severe PTSD. I really don't feel good about having a crowd of people known for throwing things and setting things on fire," David Harbick said. "You could have just told me that you have a problem with this. I would have taken it down."

Ford said that while the hanged skeleton triggered theprotest in Thurston, Black Unity changed its route from passing Harbick's house once they learned more about the situation. But he said the group still felt an educational demonstration there was needed.

Harbick said he didn't ask anyone to help him, but some who saw the social media post calling for the protest reached out to support him. Many showed up to protect his house.

Davis was one of them, and so were others from TAPS and counterprotester groups.

Before that Black Unity march was done, fights had broken out on Thurston streets.

Davis was one of the locals who went to Salem last weekendto take part in a rally at the Capitol that devolved into group-on-group clashes. He spoke for the group Open Up Oregon, which wants to see an end to mask mandates and forced business shutdowns.

Davis said it was the BLM supporters who started the violence that day. Black Lives Matter protesters that day toldthe Salem Statesman Journal it happened otherwise.

Also at the Capitol protestwas Marcus Edwards, a speaker at the July 10 "All Lives Matter" rallyat the Springfield Public Library, who told the Salem Statesman-Journal:

"These criminals, theyre trying to attack the American way of life, and if you understand how these communists work, they use every form of either political or racial tension, and they use it to create division as a divide-and-conquer strategy so that we do not pull together as an American people and rise up against the corruption at our door.

At the Springfield All Lives Matter rally, Edwards spoke to a need for unity while also defaming the BLMsupporters playing the role of counterprotesters across the street.

At that rally, like most others, the groups largely kept separated and exchanged insults and slogans, though thescene did grow tense.

But whenEzekiel Rubottom, a counterprotester, marched through therally to disrupt it with an accordion, a handful of men attendingused U.S. flags to push him to the ground, mobbing himand smashinghis instrument in the process.

Rubottom then was arrested on a years-old warrant for missing a court date in Eugene. Springfield police on July 14 said an investigation was ongoing into the incident.

"I thought at most I wouldget booed out of there. The next thing I know I'm getting pushed," he said."Then I had a sign-shield pushed at me with screws coming out of it."

Accordion player attacked at 'All Lives Matter' rally in Springfield

At a July "All Lives Matter" in Springfield, Ezekiel Rubottom was attacked by rallygoers after he walked through the demonstration with an accordion.

An Aug. 16"pro-America rally and flag wave" hosted by "the Oregon patriots" in the same downtown space had a different tenor. Billed as family friendly, members of groups like TAPS and We the People Oregon held a peaceful cookout in front of the Springfield library.A similar flag wave event was held recently in Cottage Grove.

No one came to counterprotest the gatherings. There were no fights.

Lowndes, the UO right-wing researcher, said he attended a July 25 rally in Salem where protesters on opposing sides clashed in a brief skirmish. He described meeting people who see it as their jobs to defend the nation against threats he said are largely fictitious.

Though such people often are lumped in with white supremacists, Lowndes said what brings them together is less about race and more about perceived threats to their lives.

"There is a general right wing organizing itself not around white supremacy, but the Second Amendment, around the idea antifa is a terrorist organization, around the idea Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization and people wanting to defend the police," Lowndes said. "These protests potentially bring out more, different kinds of people."

We the People of Lane County started as a Facebook group created by Springfield resident Mark Miller. Some of its membership went to scenes such as those at the federal courthouse in Eugene and Thurston. Miller said they see themselves asguardians.

"Black Unity, or whatever flag you want to call it, went there to intimidate people and to threaten people. It was not about anything else," he said. "They come with this disguise of Black Lives Matter. But listen to these people and what comes out of their mouths."

Miller said he believes the Black Lives Matter movement is not the grassroots endeavor it's portrayed to be and is funded by nefarious sources. He said he believes antifa members are the ones primarily responsible for property destruction in Eugene.

And he believes members of groups like his have done the job of keeping the peace.

"By our presence, they've cleaned it up a little bit," Millersaid. "We will not tolerate, particularly in Springfield, criminal behavior."

A June Black Lives Matter protest in Klamath Falls drew hundreds ofcounterprotesters, many armed, bent onprotecting homes and businesses from riots. There were rumorsantifa was coming to the protest, but the antifa threat that night was unfounded.

On July 31, hundreds gathered outsideNew Hope Christian College in south Eugene to protectthe cross that once stood on Skinner Butte from a threat that never materialized.

Threats to tear down that "racist" symbol its history is otherwise were circulated on social media, possibly as a hoax. Neither antifa members nor other groupsshowed up.

Many who did go see antifa and BLM-aligned groupsas a threat demanding opposition.

"Much of the community has risen up spontaneously. We didn't call them, they called us and they showed up en masse," college President Wayne Cordeiro said at the time. "They are saying we are tired of this and we're not going to stand it anymore."

Lowndes said this kind of organization is happening in Oregon, but also nationwide.

Incidents in Eugene and Springfield such as these, in which the opposition to racial justice marches isn't police presence but other civilians, are infrequent but troubling, he said.

"My fear is we're going to see more of this," Lowndes said. "As the election gets closer, I think we're going to see things get more heated."

The July 29 Black Unity march in Thurston was designed to be peaceful and educational, but the night ended as one of the summer's most violent and confrontational.

Before the beginning of the march which at its midpoint saw a locally unprecedented brawl between protesters and cops there was a chance for dialogue.

Ford was one of the Black Unity members to cross the street out ofJesse Maine Memorial Park and talk with people who said they'd come to protect the neighborhood.

"We're here for people like you guys that think we're antifa and we're going to come through your neighborhood and bust your houses and bust your cars up, to show you that we are here to peacefully protest," Ford told them.

"Well, why do you guys let antifa come with you? Don't let antifa come with you," said a man who only would identify himself to The Register-Guard that day as Will.

"Black Unity has done multiple marches. We did one through Thurston where we did not break anything. We do not march with antifa.That's not our group," Ford told them.

Ford wasarrested later that evening in a violent skirmish with Springfield police.

Though that tense conversation ended with some moderately mollified because, as Will said, "we like what we're hearing so far, you're not here to destroy," any progress they made evaporated by night's end. After the fight with police,the sun went down and theBlack Unity marchers were confrontedbycounterprotesters at the park.

Groups face off after Thurston protest march

Groups of counterprotesters confronted Black Unity demonstrators in Springfield's Thurston neighborhood after a march last month.

The protesters were trying to leave, but the last leg of their march included taunts, threats and their own chants"whose streets?" "our streets" thrown back at them. In front of the park, groups squared off face to face, and there were sporadic fights.

"We're supposed to fight them! That's why we're here," shouted one man who was angry with hisfriends' chastisementsafter he fought with a Black Unity protester.

The Civil Liberties Defense Center has been deploying legal observers at protests in Eugene and Springfield to witness police conduct and behavior, already having filed two lawsuits against Eugene police during the protest season. Executive DirectorLauren Reganwas on the ground performing that role in Thurston during the Black Unity march.

She said CLDS will file another lawsuit against Springfield police concerning "blatant collusion" between certain officers and "knownand obvious white supremacists."

A Springfield police spokesman said those allegations are baseless.

"The suggestion that SPD has 'colluded' with counterprotesters, specifically during the Thurston protest, is not supported by evidence. There are several occasions where our officers turned away counterprotesters who were asking to 'assist'officers with crowd control," Springfield Police Department spokesman Sgt. David Grice said in an email.

Springfield police arrested one counterprotester for assault that night.

Miller said he and others lined up behindpolice barricades where Black Unity marchers fought with police. He said they were there to support police in case of violence.

"We didn't have to do anything but stand there," Miller said.

Miller said We the People of Lane County also tried to stop the Thurston protest before it happened by starting a rumor on its own Facebook page, knowing it was being monitored,that Proud Boys and federal officers would be joining the counterprotest.

Regan said she's been a legal observer for more than 20 years, but that never before in the local community has she felt afraid for her safety while doing her job.

"I'm constantly looking around for, basically, violence, fascists and racists that are pulling out guns, pulling out machetes, pulling out wasp spray and aiming it at innocent human beings," Regan said. "When you have to use a thick neck and a gun in order to try and scare your adversaryor scare someone who disagrees with you, that is a sign you recognize your position is incredibly weak and you're on the wrong side of history."

Thurston residents had mixed reactions to the night's protests and fights.

Some were displeased Black Lives Matter protesters came at all, and more still that some of the protesters after the fight with police shouted obscenities and threats at peoplethey perceived as a foe. Some were happy to see self-appointed defenders come to Thurston in an attempt to balance the scales and protect property from harm.

Others just found both to be a nuisance. Some were frightened. Some felt put in the difficult position of having to comfort their childrenor explain the violence and profanity.

Charlie Vermilyea lives on the street where most of the protester vs. counterprotester collisions occurred that night. She described a night of fear, suspecting neither Black Unity nor TAPS nor anyone else who came from outside Thurston was there for peace.

"It's a nice, quiet, peaceful neighborhood. Most of those people weren't from our neighborhood,"Vermilyea said. "They were looking for trouble."

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Locals have organized against Black Lives Matter, leading to street fights, standoffs - The Register-Guard

The two sides fought with clubs, shields, pepper spray and rocks whilst using shields for protection.A number of protestors on each side were armed and according to a local reporter at least one right-wing protestor drew and aimed a firearm, but did not fire.

The violence, which lasted about an hour, took place outside Portlands Justice Centre.

Hundreds of nationalist and right-wing protestors gathered for a back the blue rally supporting Portlands police.

They were joined by activists from the Proud Boys, a group accused of promoting right-wing extremism by the Anti-Defamation League.

Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement and self-styled anti-fascist groups gathered to confront them.

In a statement the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) said: On Saturday, August 22, 2020 several different groups gathered in Downtown Portland around noon.

Over the course of the next two hours, the groups remained in the streets. Individuals yelled at each other and there were some physical interactions which quickly resolved themselves.

Some members from both groups threw projectiles and deployed aerosols like pepper and bear spray at each other. At times, fireworks were thrown and smoke canisters were deployed.

Each skirmish appeared to involve willing participants and the events were not enduring in time, so officers were not deployed to intervene.

READ MORE:Nigel Farage FURIOUS as 'terrifying' BLM protests hit London

Later the right-wing protestors dispersed and police declared an unlawful assembly.

Near daily protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have taken place in Portland since the killing of George Floyd by police at the end of May.

On Friday night Portland police declared a riot after their officers were attacked with rocks and windows on their patrol cars smashed.

In a statement PPB Chief Chuck Lovell said: Crowd management events are complex, especially when they involve groups with differing ideologies with members who wish to engage in physical confrontations.

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PPB had to be judicious with our limited resources today especially since many of our members worked during the riot this morning and had very little sleep.

Our resources are finite and we also have emergency calls for service to manage across the City.

We are investigating criminal acts when we are aware of them and ask for any victims to come forward so we can build the best case we can for enhanced outcomes for prosecution.

In July President Trump caused controversy by deploying federal officers to Portland against the wishes of the local mayor.

After a series of violent clashes with protestors over several weeks most of the federal officers were withdrawn.

President Trump has hit out repeatedly at unrest in Portland.

Early on Saturday he tweeted: Another bad night of Rioting in Portland, Oregon.

A small number of Federal troops there to protect courthouse and other Federal property only (great job!).

Wanting to be asked by City & State to STOP THE RIOTS.

Would bring in National Guard, end problem immediately. ASK!

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Riot in Portland as armed pro and anti-Trump groups fight with clubs, shields and bricks - Daily Express

Protest in downtown Portland. Police officers, sheriffs, the Department of Homeland Security, Antifa, and BLM meet in the street. Portland, Oregon,June 29, 2019. Editorial credit: Robert P. Alvarez / Shutterstock.com, licensed.

DELRAY BEACH, FL To listen to the Democrats and the pundits on CNN and MSNBC, and the anti-racist racists, youd think that both the BLM and the ANTIFA anarchists were both peaceful demonstrators just airing their grievances about police brutality.Can you believe that? Even during the Democrat convention there was no mention of the damage and the carnage committed by these two peaceful groups.

You wonder what planet the Democrats are living on as they continue to ignore the damage and havoc that these two groups have caused around the country.

These so-called civil rights organizations, are financed, to a great extent, by that patron saint of anarchy, George Soros, who has donated millions to these groups who want to overthrow our government.They use the deaths of black men or women as an excuse to go on these rampages in the various Democrat-run cities.They couldnt care less about the persons being killed, they just needed the killing to justify their abhorrent behavior.

Both BLM and ANTIFA are Marxist oriented groups who want to overthrow our government. They make no bones about it. But, why would so-called law abiding citizens and corporations donate money to their cause? From what it looks like, it is a shakedown racket pure and simple. These naive people and companies think that they are going to buy peace from these groups, that might pick them out as targets for their mayhem in the future. Little do these misguided people and companies realize that you cant appease these anarchist groups of their goal of undermining our country into one day becoming a Marxist/Socialist state.

The groups BLM and ANTIFA, are creatures of the social media. They wait for some incident to happen, mainly between the police and a black person, then they mobilize their forces through the social media outlets to congregate for action where the incident occurred. The undisciplined mob, mostly people in their teens and twenties, who respond to the call for action, come prepared for battle with bricks, bats, hammers, frozen water bottles, fireworks etc. to throw at or taunt the police or other counter groups who oppose them. The problem is that the politicians, who run the cities and states being attacked, turn a blind eye on the rioters and make excuses for their behavior, which makes the situation worse. Most all of these cities and states are run by liberal Democrats, thats not a political statement, that is an irrefutable fact.

This coming election for president is going to be one of the most important elections in our lifetime.If the Biden/Harris team gets elected, youll see more disgraceful attempts at the overthrow of our country. That is why it is so important that President Trump gets re-elected in November.He will be the law enforcement president that, hopefully, will bring back sanity in our lives, without the constraints of him having to get re-elected. He will be free to do the right thing in putting this insurrection down.He is and will be the law enforcement president that we so dearly need.

See the article here:

The Two Biggest Cons in Town: BLM and ANTIFA - The Published Reporter

Cannon Hinnant, a five-year-old white boy from North Carolina who was innocently riding his bicycle on the sidewalk was intentionally shot in the head at point blank range by a black man, Darius Sessoms, his next door neighbor. Cannon was probably only guilty of most things a 5-year-old boy would be guilty of, maybe stealing a few cookies from the cookie jar, terrorizing the family pet, not brushing his teeth but you can be certain, unlike George Floyd, he did not spend eight combined years in prison, and was not being busted for selling drugs the day he met his inevitable demise.

There is no political gain in telling the story of Cannon Hinnant. Why is this happening? Where is the outrage? Where are the burning buildings? Thats right, that would not make any sense whatsoever, it would not change one thing. Cannon is dead and Darius Sessoms will face a jury of his peers for the unthinkable murder that he committed, and the Hinnant family will spend the rest of their lives grieving over the terrible loss of their son. Period!

So why the difference in reaction to a death of people of different skin color? The difference is the socialist organization Antifa, and Black Lives Matter. Antifas radical views intersect with socialism, communism and anarchism, and the organization opposes capitalism and authority. Antifa leans to the far left, and the Democratic Party has very similar aspirations, though Antifa is not a unified organization, but rather a movement without known leadership structure. Antifa focuses on fighting the far right, they believe Trump threatens Americas multi-racial democracy, and their quest for socialism, and they want Trump out of office. If Antifa gets its way, violence and fear will replace the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution. A nation divided will soon fall, and that is their objective.

Antifa capitalizes on Black Lives Matter crowds to intersperse among them, and they ramp up the hysteria to a fever pitch, to an overblown state to where facts dont matter. Antifa gets maximum usage of BLM by having unwitting accomplices to share the looting and destruction of privately owned businesses, government buildings, statues, monuments and other markers of Americas past and success.

Antifa is determined to create chaos and point the finger at racism and capitalism as problems with our society in an effort to have Socialists Biden and Harris elected. BLM is motivated by the idea of having the taxpayers cut a check for $14 trillion for reparations for slavery. Biden/Harris will reciprocate with reparations if elected.

The MSM is an accomplice for sensationalizing and abetting those who are out to destroy this once great nation, as well as Democratic/Socialist mayors and governors who sympathize with, and take a hands off approach to the mayhem unleashed by Antifa. If you watch the MSM, there is a constant barrage of misinformation about oppression of the black community, when in fact, that magnitude of racism does not exist; however, the news media persists in perpetuating a false narrative about racism. Lawlessness and Socialism go hand in hand; you cant have one without the other! Remember that on election day!

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Two standards of justice | Letters to the Editor | thecourierexpress.com - The Courier-Express

A professor at Oregon Health & Science University was arrested during an Antifa riot on Sunday in Portland, Oregon.

OHSU Assistant Professor Daniel Liefwalker was arrested around 3 a.m. for trespassing, a class C misdemeanor, according to a booking page on the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department's website. An OHSU Human Resources representative confirmed to Campus Reform that Liefwalker is currently employed by OHSU as a Research Assistant Professor.

"Rocks and bottles were thrown, paintball guns fired, and lasers targeted officers during a riot Saturday night into Sunday morning."

The OHSU HR representative declined to comment further and the OHSU media relations office did not respond in time for publication.

According to Oregon State University's website, Liefwalker also spoke at OSU's fall conference in September 2019. The event pagecontains a photo of Liefwalker that matches the booking photo and links to Liefwalker's faculty bio on the OHSU website.

OSU also tweeted a photo of Liefwalker speaking there in 2019.

[RELATED: Texas A&M prof arrested at statue protest. Socialist groups helps bail him out.]The Post MillennialEditor-At-Large Andy Ng reported the incident on Twitter.

The riots on Saturday night into Sunday morning involved protesters throwing rocks and other miscellaneous items at police.

"Rocks and bottles were thrown, paintball guns fired, and lasers targeted officers during a riot Saturday night into Sunday morning," according to a Portland Police Press Release.

Portland Police released a statement on the riots, saying that "in this case, there were hundreds of individuals and many weapons within the groups and an extremely limited amount of police resources actually available to address such a crowd."

According to the press release, police declared the gathering as an "unlawful assembly" at 11:41 p.m., and warned those rioting that if they did not disperse, they would be subjected to arrest, citation, or crowd control agents."

However, according to the release, few followed the warning. A total of 23 people were arrested Sunday night and into Monday morning.

[RELATED: Professors nationwide offer assistance, advice, and support to Antifa-like rioters]

Campus Reformreached out to OSU and Liefwalker but did not receive responses in time for publication.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter:@Jess__Custodio

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Oregon professor arrested during Portland Antifa riots - Campus Reform

The Facebook like sign is seen at Facebooks corporate headquarters campus in Menlo Park, Calif., on Oct. 23, 2019.

Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Facebook announced an expansion of its Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy, removing or restricting hundreds of pages associated with groups that it claims promote violence. Nearly 800 QAnon groups, committed to pernicious disinformation and potentially deadly conspiracy theories, have been removed. Facebook also shut down the pages of far-right militias, like the New Mexico Civil Guard, an armed vigilante organization, whose leaders sport swastika tattoos.

Alongside groups openly committed to genocidal white supremacy, which constitute a very real threat to Black and Indigenous communities, as well as other people of color, Facebook also shut down the pages of numerous antifascist, anti-capitalist news, organizing, and information sites. The move follows a pattern now well-established by the Trump administration and unchallenged by most every mainstream media outlet that draws indefensible false equivalences between organized, racist fascists, and the antifascists who vigorously oppose them.

Among the pages removed were those of antifascist news and research site, Its Going Down, a media platform that publishes news, analysis, and reports on social struggles, as well as investigative work to expose white supremacist and neo-Nazi networks. Crimethinc, a bastion of left-wing, anarchist publishing and thought since the 1990s, saw its Facebook page removed too. The pages of groups organizing around the ongoing and potent antiracist uprisings were also shut down, including the PNW Youth Liberation Front, a network of youth collectives in the Northwest committed to direct action protest.

Lumping anarchists and anti-fascists together with far-right militias who explicitly support the current administration is a strategic move to muddy the issue, said a statement from Crimethinc in response to the bans. This is the same operation that William Barr the attorney general performed in creating a Department of Justice task force focused on anti-government extremists that targets self-proclaimed fascists and anti-fascists alike. In the case of the Department of Justice, this enables them to point to far-right and militia attacks in order to demand resources with which to crack down on those who are on the front lines of defending communities against such attacks.

Both rhetorically and through specific policies, the government has obfuscated and downplayed the threat of white supremacist extremism, while sensationalizing the risks posed by the far left.

With its latest bans, Facebook is following this same playbook.

With its latest bans, Facebook is followingthe governmentsplaybook.

The demonization of antifascists has become a centerpiece of President Donald Trumps reelection propaganda, which functions both to criminalize dissent and delegitimize Black liberation struggle. Following the intolerable events of the Charlottesville, Virginia, Unite the Right rally in 2017, Trump famously praised very fine members of the white supremacist coalition and blamed both sides for the murderous far-right violence that occurred a stance thats since been crystallized in his policies.

Facebooks decision to treat leftist social justice platforms as equivalent to racist militia groups is merely an extension of the governments position. For months, Donald Trump has demanded this crackdown in a series of social media posts explicitly blaming anarchists and anti-fascists for the countrywide wave of protests precipitated by persistent police violence in the United States, said the Crimethinc statement.

Earlier this month, as I wrote, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chaired a farcical Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on stopping anarchist violence. The senator repeatedly chastised Democrats for failing to condemn antifa for a murder that was in fact carried out by the far right and refused to be corrected. Both Its Going Down and Crimethinc were mentioned during the hearing, within baseless overtures on the threat of the far left.

In the three decades since Crimethincs founding, the Facebook ban is the first thing like this that has occurred, said a participant in the collective, who asked for anonymity out of concern for far-right retaliation and state scrutiny. Of course, none of the antifascist groups removed by Facebook expected any better from the social media leviathan. We ultimately arent surprised by this move and personally all hate Facebook, the Its Going Down Twitter account said, noting that it was nonetheless a vehicle to connect with people.

At stake is not the moral standing of Mark Zuckerburgs turpitudinous monopoly, but rather the further entrenching of a false equivalence, which stifles antifascist dissent at a time of emboldened state and movement fascism.

It bears repeating, ad nauseam, that the far right has carried out 329 murders in the last three decades; none have been attributed to antifa. Between 2009 and 2018, white supremacist and far-right extremists were responsible for 73 percent of extremist murders in the U.S. And thats not even to mention the state-sanctioned, racist killings carried out by the police.

Theres no doubt that a number of the leftist platforms removed in the Facebook sweep advocate for disruptive dissent and protest. Antifa practice certainly involves a willingness to physically confront organized white supremacists in the streets. But Facebooks bans, echoing Trumps myths, equate the violence of disruptive antiracist protest with the violence of neo-Nazis murdering immigrants and people of color.

This line of thinking continues to equate protest disruption and property destruction with far-right movements who fundamentally want to harm and kill large segments of the public, Its Going Down tweeted.

For Facebook to treat even militant, antiracist, antifascist organizing as a violence comparable to that of white supremacist militias is a statement, in no uncertain terms, about which lives it deems to matter.

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Facebook's Ban on Far-Left Pages Is an Extension of Trump Propaganda - The Intercept - First Look Media

Antifa Takes It To The Next Level

Dear Editor,

It appears that not only is the lawless rioting, looting and general destruction of private and public property spreading, based on a recent video out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, that shows at least two or three individual armed with rifles and pistols confronting a sheriffs vehicle with at least one actually squaring off against an armored vehicle with a rifle. (By the way, it was one of those scary black rifles the left wants take away.)

First, this demonstrates a major level of escalation on the part of the BLM/Antifa/socialist leftist rioters that the mainstream liars keep calling peaceful protesters. Add this to the video of a different mob, some of whom were armed, marching through a suburban neighborhood, blocking traffic and at one point an armed individual took a threatening stance and squared off against a man in his pickup just trying to get home.

Second, what kind of idiot squares off against an armored vehicle with a rifle? Someone needs to be held responsible for allowing these overgrown children to play with guns.

Then you had a guy badly beaten for trying to help a trans individual that was being assaulted and mugged by a mob made up of folks that are supposed to be out there for them. Obviously theyre starting to eat their own. Or could it be they really dont care about those people and have been using them as cover their real agenda.

Yes, there was a confrontation between left and right extremists and that was dangerous and stupid. Its one thing to stand your ground and defend yourself and everything you believe in, its another to go looking for a fight. I also saw tactics being used by the Antifa mob that showed coordination and training.

My whole point is the facade is starting to fall away. They have tested the waters by having a few individuals that they could later deny if it went sideways show up armed. I strongly suspect you are going to start seeing more and it will inevitably escalate to the next level with someone, police most likely, being shot. If and when that happens it will be Katy bar the door, and because politicians have let it get to this level the police will be hard pressed to get back the control that will have been lost. When this happens that will be, I believe, the beginning of the real fight.

Alan Marshall

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Letters To The Editor: August 26, 2020 - The Rhino Times of Greensboro - The Rhino TImes

While the nation was distracted by civil unrest in Kenosha, chaos persisted in Portland, Ore. On the 90th consecutive day of rioting, multiple fires were set at the Portland Police Association building in a residential neighborhood, leading to 25 arrests last night.

Roughly 300 protestors marched directly north from Arbor Lodge Park at 9:30 p.m. to the union headquarters located in the 1800 block of North Lombard Street.

The crowd chanted, "Burn it down!"

Within minutes of the crowd arriving, rioters charged to the rear and cut power to the building. Flames were seen shooting up the side of the PPA. Dry summer weather exacerbated the fire.

"Due to the extreme life safety concerns," the commander immediately determined a riot, the Portland Police Bureau reported.

While the urgency to extinguish the fire was dire, an agitator appeared to pour an accelerant, causing the fire to explode rapidly.

Warnings were issued over loudspeaker as officers intervened to disperse the crowd, advising that failure to leave will subject rioters to arrest or the use of crowd control munitions, including tear gas and impact weapons.

Officers discovered that the first fire was lit on the west side of the building, and a second fire was actively burning on the south side. The fires were doused and the PPA was checked to verify that the flames had not spread to the interior.

Officers then disengaged to reduce the intensity of the situation. Almost immediately rioters returned, peeling chain link fencing into roadway to block traffic. Another fire was lit in the middle of the street.

At 11:30 p.m., several individuals lit two fires on the north side of the PPA, including the awning over the main entrance. Warnings were again issued via loudspeaker, urging all those present to flee south and east.

During at least one arrest, officers were surrounded by a mob that assaulted them with umbrellas and other objects.

As police attempted to disengage again, purported "members of the media" with "press" printed on their outer clothing were seen throwing rocks at officers. A rock struck the windshield of their transport vehicle, cracking the glass.

After tear gas was deployed, most of the participants evacuated the area and roads were cleared by 1:00 a.m.

Due to the threats of violence and destruction, approximately 30 patrol officers were reportedly pulled from the precincts, leaving emergency dispatch calls temporarily unanswered.

"That severely limited response to calls for service," the police report noted. "By the end of the evening, over 100 calls for service were holding in the city of Portland, including a priority disturbance, a priority assault, a priority burglary to an occupied apartment, welfare checks, threats, and roadway hazards."

All 25 arrests were booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on assorted charges, including riot, interfering with a peace officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, escape, and carrying a concealed weapon.

33-year-old Philipp Hoffman was arrested with a baton on hand while Paul Michael Losch, 39, was arrested carrying multiple knives and a walkie-talkie, which is used by Antifa for group communications.

Among others arrested, Robert Stamp, 35, wielded a dagger.

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Portland rioters burn city in 'solidarity' with Kenosha - The Post Millennial

A 1968 law the Trump administration has used to prosecute people involved in the past months rioting has been partially rolled back as a federal appeals court realized - 52 years later - some of its parts were unconstitutional.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has nixed a portion of the 1968 Anti-Riot Act that criminalized encouraging, promoting, or urging a riot, arguing it infringed on First Amendment free speech protections in a Monday decision. However, organizing or inciting a riot remains a crime, as does crossing state lines to participate in rioting.

Mondays case concerned two California men who admitted to having personally committed multiple violent acts during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville - meaning the nullification of the free speech portion wasnt relevant to their fate. However, supporters and critics of President Donald Trump seized on the decisions implications for the Justice Departments prosecution of Antifa and other far left extremist groups allegedly responsible for the rioting that has erupted in cities across the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

Attorney General William Barr warned rioters back in May that he planned to use the 1968 law to prosecute those who came from out of state to riot, claiming the violence in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago was planned, organized, and driven by far left extremist groups and anarchic groups using Antifa-like tactics.

While the 4th Circuits decision may impinge somewhat on the Justice Departments ability to charge rioters, its an improvement - at least, for the Trump administration - over a 2019 decision that deemed the entire Anti-Riot Act unconstitutional for the same First Amendment reasons.Back then,it concerned another Charlottesville-related case - against three alleged members of far-right group Rise Above Movement. They hadnt even traveled to Charlottesville but merely posted supposedly inciting material. The case - and the law - were thrown out, though prosecutors have appealed the ruling.

Politico appeared to view the decision as a victory, noting the convictions of the two Charlottesville attendees had been upheld and the Justice Department was deprived of an unconstitutional tool for charging riot cheerleaders .

However, conservative provocateur Mike Cernovich hailed the decision as bad news for Antifa, viewing the decisions affirmation of crossing state lines to riotbeing a crime as a victory.

The Trump administration announced its crackdown on Antifa and far left extremists in the days following Floyds killing as rioters laid waste to Minneapolis and other cities and have in some cases sent in federal troops. Over the weekend, Portland police declined to intervene in a mass brawl between Antifa and Proud Boys or even declare the melee a riot, citing a lack of crowd-control resources and over two months of violent actions against police.

The county District Attorneys apparent refusal to charge protesters with low-level offenses may also have been a factor in the officers hands-off approach. Oregon state police left Portland earlier this month after making a similar complaint, noting that of over 500 people arrested, just 50 had been charged. While federal troops were also dispatched to the city for several weeks to protect its courthouse, they also withdrew earlier this month amid a media uproar over dubiously legal tactics, including grabbing protesters off the street in unmarked vans.

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Take that, Trump - or Antifa! Dueling narratives over appeals courts partial rollback of anti-riot law - RT

Raw Video: 'Restore our Historical Monuments Protest' Delaware News Journal

Standing below where the former Caesar Rodney statue stood in Wilmington's Rodney Square, Delaware Republican U.S. Senate candidate Lauren Witzke on Tuesday called for the statue's return more than two months after the City of Wilmington removed it.

The rally, organized by Witzke, also called for the return of the Christopher Columbus statue, which was located about a mile away closer to Trolley Square.

"We are calling for the restoration of our historicalmonuments," Witzke said to the around 30 people who attended.

"They're coming for our churches next," Witzke said. "All of our institutions, they're not safe against the Marxist mob."

Around 30 people attended the rally, called the "Restore our Historical Monuments Protest."

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Witzke spoke out against the current state of governments, which she said was "catering to Black Lives Matter Marxists." She later attacked Sen. Chris Coons for marching with "rioters and looters" during unrest in Wilmington in June.

Other speakers included Brice Ingram, a volunteer for the Witzke campaign. He called Black Lives Matter and Antifa a "battering ram" against the working class.

In words directed at what he called "the adversary," Witzke campaign staffer Jeremy Abbott said, "If you come for our families, we will show you a history of the second amendment."

In defense of the Columbus statue, Thomas Giorgispoke about the long history of racism directed toward Italian-Americans in this country.

Wilmington Police officers on bicycles were on hand across Market Street. Witzke asked the crowd to give them a round of applause and called for more funding and resources for police departments.

"We back the blue," she told them as a few waved back and smiled. "We love you and we have your back."

The protest started around 6:30 p.m. and lasted about 40 minutes. Itturned into a de facto campaign rally for Witzke, who will run in a September 15 primary against Jim DeMartino, who has been endorsed by the Delaware GOP.

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Contact Jeff Neiburg at jneiburg@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.

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Rally in Rodney Square calls for restoring of statues - The News Journal