Occupy Portland’s end tonight may turn violent.
By TIM RILEY
Portland Police are bracing for a showdown with the city’s Occupy group at midnight tonight.
The order from mayor Sam Adams Wednesday decreed that they vacate the two city parks they have held since October 6th by 12:01am Sunday.
The mayor has championed the cause of Occupy, but finally was pushed to act on the outrage of a vast cross section of city and law enforcement officials, downtown merchants, social service providers and the general public. The camps have become a refuge for the homeless, drug dealing and its usage along with a mixture of criminals.
The Police Bureau released staggering statistics of the rise in crime in the downtown area, ranging from the theft of knives from a nearby merchant to the theft and recovery of bicycles at the camp. Fights and drug overdoses have become common. Police overtime to keep peace at the camps at last estimate was over $300,000.
The most frightening aspect of tonight’s midnight eviction came yesterday from the Portland Police Bureau. They received information that a call has gone out to Oakland, Seattle and San Francisco and other cities encouraging people to come to Portland and engage in resistance, up to 300 including as many as 150 anarchists.
It gets worse.
Police think people may be in the in trees during tonight’s planned police action. Andy and Bax, a Portland army surplus store reports a run on gas masks.
Further reports indicate a hole being dug in one of the parks and wood is being used to reinforce the area around it. Witnesses say nails have been hammered into wood for weapons. People in the camps are preparing for a confrontation with police. Occupy campers in the middle of the night brought in pallets on Friday.
Yesterday afternoon, police with the media in tow confiscated enough stones and concrete pieces from the Occupy campers to fill up the bed of a pick up truck. Wood pallets that could be used as shields were shown lining the street of tents in an Occupy park.
As police rounded up these projectiles that could be used as weapons against them tonight, they rushed to save the life of another Occupy camper dying of a heroin overdose. In a similar scene this week, another overdose victim admitted he bought the drug in the park from one of the other campers.
This is the scene of what has become of Occupy Portland and why it has become necessary to put an end to it. Many in Portland feel that the civilized people who had a legitimate political point to make did so and returned home weeks ago. To make matters worse, Adams refused to offer firm leadership in dealing with the lawlessness, taking a trip to China leaving the Police Bureau to deal with the breakdown in public order.
It should be noted that tweets from Occupy Portland deny any violence or resistance by them will take place at midnight. The problem here as in many other cities is that it’s unknown who is actually speaking for the group since it does not have leaders. History shows a group or a cause without leaders soon falls into the hands of extremists and loses mainstream support.
