Police Threaten Public Assembly at Occupy Portland

The crowd gathered in Portland was estimated to be six thousand at midnight.

Occupy Portland - Salem-News.com photo by Dexter Phoenix

(PORTLAND, ORE.) - The Portland media is creating an environment that aids the city in its ambition to shut down the Occupy Movement. That's sure how it looks to me. Police had threatened to shut it down at midnight, protestors say they aren't going to vacate. Midnight came and passed without police, who are present in full riot gear, moving on the crowd.

KGW's Tracy Barry states, "Some people have really had it" when speaking about this public gathering, without even trying to hide her obvious distaste for the people on the streets of her city who are weathering the possibility of violence to make a point for the downtrodden and out of work, the homeless and the future of America's children. It is ridiculous to hear such partial tones toward police and against Occupy Portland. KATU News presented a more balanced view, at least from Steve Dunn on their anchor desk.

Even though public officials are crying out about costs associated with the grass roots movement, donors in the city of Portland have offered to cover any costs incurred by the movement, which was self supporting and legal.

It is important to note that the mayor, police chief, and the entire Portland city council are backing the move to shut down Occupy Portland.

They are trying to sound as nice as they can, but to many their efforts are about quieting down a movement that is somewhat inconvenient, but terribly important in terms of a public expression.

The public officials like to talk about how there has not been violence in Portland, yet they learn little from that lesson it seems as they move to quite the voices of Americans who by all accounts, have every right to protest.

Portland's Parks Manager told a KGW reporter, "People know this is coming to an end".

That sounded to like an assumptive close. We'll see what happens very soon.

From Occupy Portland Website

“

The Mayor announced a notice of eviction for Occupy Portland effective at 12:01 AM Sunday. Occupy Portland held an emergency General Assembly at noon, then another General Assembly at seven. At the end of the night, seven different action groups had begun enacting our responses, including a group that is planning on cleaning the parks of as many structures and messes as possibly, and outreach group dedicated toward getting more people down on Saturday, and an “Occu-Festival” to be held Saturday night prior to the deadline. The group decided overwhelmingly, with almost 100% consensus, to stay in the parks.

”

Clergy Bear Witness for Peace at Occupy Portland

Around 10:30 p.m. tonight, a group of up to twenty local clergy converged on the encampment. According to Rev. Kate Lore, Social Justice Minister for First Unitarian Church, and Rev. Chuck Currie, of United Church of Christ, the clergy are coming “to bear witness for peace during the eviction.”

Rev. Lore explains, “Many of us are veterans of the Civil Rights era, so we understand the significance of this day, and we are familiar with nonviolent civil disobedience. We’re coming to bear witness; we know that we don’t have control over what happens.”

Right 2 Survive and Michael Moore stand with Occupy Portland

From Right 2 Survive and Michael Moore:

“

Right 2 Survive would like to thank Occupy Portland for their important work educating the public about the inequities inherent in our economic system – work that we hope will continue whatever the outcome of tonight’s events. We at Right 2 Survive support Occupy Portland and the larger Occupy Wall Street movement to which it belongs in its efforts to shine light on the pressures facing the 99% as more of our world’s wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. With the number of illegal foreclosures on the rise and the ongoing criminalization of houseless people in cities across the U.S., the right to occupy public space and the ability to provide a space for people to stay without profit is something we should all be fighting for. As both Occupy Portland and R2DToo face pressure from the city to shut down we hope that the city and police will consider what they would feel like if someone showed up at their home and took their warm safe bed away from them.

”

Community urge no violence against Occupy Portland

Open letter to the City:

“

We support the Occupy Wall Street movement in Portland and around the world. It is a commendable and much-needed response to the corporate greed and government corruption that negatively affects so many people in our communities and beyond. As organizations advocating for economic and social justice, we owe the men, women and youth of this movement a great deal of gratitude for the tremendous shift they have created in the national debate. After years of effort, the nation is finally beginning to consider the root causes of the nation’s economic woes rather than seek out scapegoats. This positive momentum must be continued …

”

_________________________________________________________

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 91 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com