Portland Streets Descend Into Bedlam, Again, as Proud Boys and Antifascists Maul Each Other
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A sudden march by Proud Boys through downtown Portland tonight turned into a melee, as tensions between radical groups stoked by national media erupted in a street brawl that police struggled to contain.
Right-wing extremists and masked antifascists clashed on the street outside of Kelly's Olympian, a downtown bar. Several brutal fights broke out at once, with black-clad leftists swinging at their MAGA-hat wearing adversaries. Some of the right-wingers struck with batons. Both sides used pepper spray.
Adding to the already high tensions between warring protest groups in Portland, videos showing a large group of Proud Boys beating two or three protesters in New York City after attending a Friday event at the city's GOP headquarters drew widespread attention today. The videos led national media to scrutinize the Proud Boys, a fringe group that has close ties with Gibson and Patriot Prayer.
onight, the Patriot Prayer crowd, peppered with Proud Boys and others sporting American flags and "Don't Tread On Me" banners, marched through downtown Portland shouting about unseating Wheeler and sending Antifa home.
The crowd chanted "USA" as it approached a vigil for Patrick Kimmons, a man fatally shot by Portland police last month. The leftist protesters at the vigil had been chanting "Black Lives Matter." Someone in the left-wing crowd set an American flag on fire, but a Patriot Prayer marcher snagged it before it could burn to ashes.
Shortly after leaving the vigil, some people in the far-right crowd clashed with antifascist protesters for the first time. After exchanging insults, a masked left-wing protester pepper sprayed a handful of right-wing supporters.
But the true chaos broke out later, shortly before 8 pm, on Southwest Washington Street outside Kelly's Olympian.
A man who appeared to be Tusitala "Tiny" Toese kicked a counter-protester who was on the ground. Another right-wing supporter ran up and stomped on the man's face. One of his fellow protesters pushed him away and said "Let him go."
Portland police intervened to break up some of the skirmishes. An officer can be seen on video firing pepper balls at four right-wing protesters who were beating a single antifascist protester on the ground.
https://nypost.com/2018/10/13/three-men-busted-in-brawl-outside-event-for-proud-boys-leader/Quote:
Three people protesting a speech by right-wing provocateur Gavin McInnes on the Upper East Side were busted Friday after brawls broke out on neighboring sidewalks, cops said.
The violence started after about 80 protesters gathered outside the Metropolitan Republican Club at Third Avenue and East 83th Street, where McInnes was speaking, police said.
McInnes, a co-founder of Vice Media, heads a right-wing group called the Proud Boys, which has been characterized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and is a since-departed co-founder of Vice Media. The club was vandalized before McInnes’ appearance.
As the audience left at around 8:15 p.m., cops say, three protesters followed a man who broke into a run as he left the building.
The man dropped his backpack, and when he tried to pick it up, a protester punched him and took his property, cops said.
Finbarr Slonim, 20, and Caleb Perkins, 35, both of the Upper East Side, and Kai Russo, 20, from Bushwick, have been freed without bail on charges of felony burglary and misdemeanor assault.
“We vigorously dispute the allegations,” said their lawyer”
Photojournalist Shay Horse tweeted about a fight involving “30 (proud boys) V 3 (randoms).”
“It ended with 30 proud boys pummeling a guy on the ground screaming, ‘ARE YOU BRAVE NOW F—-T?!’” he posted.
Vandals had thrown a brick through the window of the same Republican club early Friday, scrawling two anarchy symbols on its front door and gluing the locks, cops said.
The vandalism appeared to also be tied to McInnes’ appearance.
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