Tag: Portland protests

A ‘Wall of Vets’ Joins the Front Lines of Portland Protests

New York Times logoMilitary veterans said they banded together to protect the free speech of demonstrators.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A week after federal officers in Portland, Ore., brutally struck a Navy veteran who said he had approached them simply to ask a question, a group of military veterans on Friday joined the front lines of the city’s growing protests.

Duston Obermeyer, a Marine Corps veteran, said he and other veterans were there to make sure federal officers did not infringe on the free speech of protesters, who numbered in the thousands.

“Our veterans are here specifically to support the rights of the protesters to protest,” said Mr. Obermeyer, who said he had deployed three times during a decade in the Marines. Continue reading.

‘MomBloc’ and protest first-timers march into Portland streets, moved by the aggressive tactics of federal agents

Washington Post logoPORTLAND, Ore. — Kim Brolutti was on his knees, he said, when federal agents in Portland sprayed him in the face with chemicals at point-blank range.

It was the first demonstration in a long time for the retired 66-year-old nurse and father of two, who was compelled to join Portland activists who had called on parents from around the region to stand on the front lines after days of clashes with federal officials in the city.

As Brolutti’s eyes burned and his vision blurred, his adult children led him out of the crowd and away from an advancing line of federal police. He found a bench and sat. A volunteer street medic flushed out his eyes with water, and Brolutti’s head leaned back into his daughter’s open palms. Continue reading.