WEBVTT - Tactics and Teargas 0:00:00.000 --> 0:00:05.120 Business declared Riley Broom Groom broken out windows of vultable 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:12.480 businesses in alloy in district members and also drawn projectile 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.720 to believe must impiately leave the area bail You're to 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.439 adhere to this order MA subtrict due to a roust, 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:25.400 citation or crowd control agents, including but not limited to 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:31.800 tread and or impact weapon, leave the area immediately. A 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.879 phrase you'll hear thrown around often at Portland protests is 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:39.920 diversity of tactics. It's a civil revolt organizing principle that 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.640 dates back to at least around the nineteen sixties and 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.800 was popularized by people like Malcolm X. Diversity of tactics 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:51.240 emphasizes making periodic use of force for defensive or disruptive purposes, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.160 stepping beyond the limits of non violence, but also stopping 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:58.360 short of militarization. It's about promoting solidarity between those who 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.080 practice peaceful protests and those who are more militant. As 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:04.880 Malcolm X put it, our people have made the mistake 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.960 of confusing the methods with the objectives. As long as 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.319 we agree on objectives, we should never fall out with 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:12.840 each other just because we believe in different methods or 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:16.760 tactics or strategy to reach a common goal, Taking their 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.880 cues from Malcolm X. Younger and more militant Black liberation 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:23.840 activists increasingly supported this approach, with Gloria Richardson of the 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.600 Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee declaring in nineteen sixty four 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.600 that the federal government would only be compelled to intervene 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.080 on behalf of integration only when matters approached the level 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.880 of insurrection. While support for a diversity of tactics was 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.120 foundational to struggles throughout the later half of the twentieth century, 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.080 the phrase itself was popularized by the protests against the 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.160 Republican National Convention and Saint Paul Minnesota. In two thousand eight, 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:52.760 a broad coalition of labor, anti war, anti globalization, liberal 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.200 and leftist groups drafted the Saint Paul Principles, which read 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.920 as follows. Number one, our solidarity will be based on 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.400 respect for a diversity of tactics and the plans of 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:06.200 other groups. Number two. The actions and tactics used will 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:09.280 be organized to maintain a separation of time or space. 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.360 Number Three. Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.919 the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.560 activists and events. And number four, we oppose any state 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:25.600 repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, and violence. We 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.240 agree not to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others. 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.280 The principles were a rough compromise, the common ground that 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.720 most of the ten thousand protesters who gathered in the 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.840 Twin Cities to face down heavily militarized police could agree to. 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:40.919 Twelve years later, spurred on by the murder of George 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.880 Floyd in Minneapolis, the national Uprising of would grapple with 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.720 those same debates over acceptable and useful tactics. They would 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:59.920 find no easy answers. Here's Garrison in Portland. There has 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:04.800 been even further distinction between peaceful protests i long preplanned 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.880 marches with speeches and no property damage, and non violent 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.079 protests where people aren't physically harmed but protesters do engage 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.960 in property destruction for various reasons. It's often said when 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.840 these different types of protests can happen simultaneously, both a big, 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.200 more liberal one and a smaller radical one, that's when 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.200 you can get the most reforms. As the Wilife explains here. 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.120 Note the audio is re dubbed. I do think that's important, 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.680 Like if if we have to work inside the system 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:36.840 and are not able to outright destroy it, that is 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.760 definitely an important aspect because it gives it basically gives 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.160 the people in charge in this case, will say Ted Wheeler, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.880 there are two options you can go with in his mind, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.440 the violent rioters wanting to destroy everything, or you can 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.680 go with the with the peaceful ones. He's left with 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.560 two options, and he's always going to take like the 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.280 peaceful liberal marches. And at the end of the day, 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.040 it's not nothing because they're still out there, demand of 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.960 school resource officers out of schools, the gang Task Force gone, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.000 and so it basically makes them choose. And I guess 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.280 if we're working in the system, any progress is good. 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:12.400 Despite police and the media's insistence, vandalism and violence are 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:15.440 not the same thing, but there still is a public 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:20.320 perception that anarchists, protesters, and rioters are quote destroying the 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:25.960 city unquote. Tristan notes how violence and vandalism are misconstruted 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.560 and exaggerated in press coverage. I think the kind of 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.880 the most damaging thing or like the worst kind of 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:40.160 counter um like narrative is basically just around the like 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:45.479 vandalism that goes on and like uh really kind of 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.039 blowing that out of proportion and and and trying to 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:54.760 act like that is going to uh like you know, ok, 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.080 it's distracted, Like there's this you know, narrative going around 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.160 that that's like distracting from the real purpose of the 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.480 move man that it's you know, like white anarchists like 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.760 trying to take the the attention away from like black 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.160 folks and as usually being pushed like really conservative black people, 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.960 and like you know, the kind of people who they 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.800 have a lot of influence with. You know, they'll see 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:22.320 like mainstream like in the VCP here in Portland, who 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.159 has always been tight with the mayor's office, really pushing 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.160 that narrative hard, and lots of other folks you know, 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.720 coming up to back them up. Yeah. So I guess 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.800 one thing that I've also seen is that there's this 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.520 conflation of like you know, they'll say like downtown is 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.360 deserted because of these protests because all the violence, but 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:44.719 downtown is deserted because of the pandemic and also despite 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.360 the plague and a record number of businesses shutting down 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.320 due to COVID downtown Portland is unfortunately quite active at 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:55.080 the moment. It is in fact not destroyed nor taking 0:05:55.360 --> 0:06:00.880 enough appropriate COVID precautions, you know, And that's not like 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.520 that's like the most disingenuous thing anyone could possibly say. 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.000 And it's so it seems so patently obvious that it's like, 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.800 you know, like a red herring, but then people are 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.120 still like buying into it and to a certain degreer, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.320 like echoing that sentiment, and it's just this is not 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:18.560 the case. And it's like and there's also this like 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:23.760 desire for for them to like they kind of say 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.960 that it's all white anarchists, but there's no way to 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:29.320 that for you to prove that because most of the 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.120 people who are doing this show are all blocked up. 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.280 And it's like so there's also this like kind of 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.600 subtext that they what they really want for these people, 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.360 They want to know who these people are, you know, 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.760 partially to like like you know, gratify themselves are trying 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:45.520 to be right, but also just so the fucking cops 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.640 from now them. You know. It's like it's like undercurrent 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:54.000 of like respectability, like if you know, they really cared, 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:55.760 they would like show their faces or something like that, 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.960 like I don't know. The vast majority of Portland protesters 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.520 do not partake in any political violence or even vandalism, 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.080 even at the riots that end in destruction and violence. 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.680 At almost every one of these protests, physical violence is 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.920 started and further escalated by law enforcement. Entire crowds get 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.240 punished for the actions of a few individuals. The more 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:21.320 rare alternative to this is quote unquote targeted arrests, that, 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.320 despite its name, are often not actually targeted at specific 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.800 individuals and instead just end up targeting people wearing black 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.080 clothes and those that don't run away fast enough from 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.800 riot cops. The people arrested in these targeted arrests often 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.720 get charged with a mix of small misdemeanors and sometimes 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.080 agregious felonies, most of which end up getting dropped due 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.400 to lack of evidence. When the arrests are specifically targeted, 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.920 it's usually for such quote unquote crimes as standing and 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.640 protesting on the driveway of the Ice building at one am. 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.640 The validity of property destruction has faced a lot of 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:01.560 criticism from pundance, politicians and even many protesters. For the 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.800 summer of twenty there was actually very little property destruction 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.480 save for the first riot night, as people were mostly 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.800 trying to repeat the occupy the areas around boarded up 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.320 police buildings. But as the summer turned into fall and 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:19.920 tactics evolved alongside the smaller crowd sizes, broken windows became 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.080 more common. Critics say that it is not strategic because 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.720 it does not help grow the movement, gain public support, 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.200 or by itself be enough pressure for instituting change. That 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.719 much is arguably true, but that assumes those were the 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.240 goals of the action in the first place, which is 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:41.120 usually not true. In a recent interview, local political consultant 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.640 and former activist Gregory McKelvey said this about the purpose 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.920 of vandalism such as breaking windows. Quote, Honestly, I think 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.079 in some cases the goal has been explicitly revenge for 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:56.000 night after night of tear gas beatings, disparate policing and 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.400 PPBS protection of the ice detention centers. However, again, we 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.240 must put ourselves in the minds as someone who probably 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.520 rightfully believes the world is ending, or at a minimum 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.800 is on the brink of being unrecognizable with incredible amounts 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:14.120 of death, pain, and climate chaos. If the world is ending, 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.000 some people are going to act like it. It's amazing 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.439 to me that liberal Democrats really do believe that we 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.040 are on the brink of something like armageddon and then 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.400 are shocked that some people behave like it. What did 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:30.360 you picture armageddon to look like? Public testimony unquote vandalism 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:34.200 like graffitia, breaking windows also serves as a demanding of attention, 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:39.160 while also symbolizing a direct attack on racism, class divides, capitalism, 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.760 or this datus quote itself. For years, people have tried 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.880 just asking nicely. Over the summer here in Portland, there 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:49.080 were thousands of people peacefully demanding a fifty million dollar 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:52.280 budget cut from p PPS two hundred and forty five 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:56.679 million dollar budget to then reinvesting community services. The minus 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.280 fifty million would bring the police budget down closer to 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:03.280 their twenty sixteen budget of only a hundred and ninety million. 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:07.960 Other demands include wholly abolishing and replacing the Portland Police Bureau, 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.760 dropping all charges for civil rights protesters, and that Mayor 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.040 Ted Wheeler resigned with none of those demands meant, and 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.120 politicians all but ignoring the peaceful demonstrations. People are angry, 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.079 so windows get broken, and this seems to be the 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.240 only thing that gets attention anymore and keeps the dialogue 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:31.280 about police violence active. Here's Tristan again. That's like I said, 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.760 I definitely feel like that kind of like vandalism should 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:43.719 be engaged with and like, uh, let's say a productive 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.599 kind of way. I don't necessarily think it's wrong, but 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:54.920 if it if you can't see, yeah, this is this 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.800 is a hard depart because I mean, it's totally valid 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.959 to be able to speak madness smash it. And I 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:08.280 guess in terms of like small businesses, um, I mean, 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.280 well I guess, okay, so one way that it's if 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:13.160 I think fully justified even if it is like a 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.439 small business, if they're like cop friendly, if they're like 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.400 cop adjacent, and like if they got like a Blue 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.280 Lives matter of fighting the window, like gloves off, I 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.719 don't give a ship. But you know, if it's just 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:32.200 like a random business, like probably don't you know, because 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:36.480 I mean, the cops are gonna they're gonna come at 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:41.360 you anyway, you know, whether you like break a window 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.960 or like you know, burn a cop car, right, they're 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.040 gonna arrest you. And they're probably arrest you even if 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:51.800 you don't do that. And so it's really just a 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.560 matter of like, which of those two acts is actually 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.000 going to like materially deprived the police of the ability 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.160 need commit for Here's another quote from Gregory in his 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:08.120 recent interview at the will Emit Week quote for generations 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.679 like mine and the one after. Gregory is in his 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.240 late twenties. By the way, we have been told our 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.720 entire lives that the world is about to end if 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.520 nothing is done immediately, and that all of the evils 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:22.000 of our world, climate, chaos, racism, the ills of capitalism, 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.760 and more are all inexplicably linked. In my mind and 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.199 in the minds of protesters, these things are objectively true. 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:31.400 So if the young person has told the world is 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.240 ending and then told to sign up to testify or 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.520 go vote, that does not meet the urgency of the moment. 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:41.839 Destruction is a natural reaction to feeling desperate, helpless, and 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.800 an imminent doom. The solution to all this would involve 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.880 actually addressing the legitimate issues that are killing us all 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:53.160 with the urgency that's necessary. The politicians who are acting 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.520 like everything is fine as the world literally burns, or 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:58.920 say they care about these issues but don't actually do 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.199 anything to fundamentally to fix them are only making the 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:06.560 problems worse and people's desperation worse. And then when both 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.480 liberals and conservatives alike make more of a fuss about 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.960 a broken Starbucks window than the literally hundreds of people 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.640 beaten and gassed in the streets by the cops afterwards, 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:35.719 that only further proves the protesters point. We pro it 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.480 would be remiss to talk about tactics without mentioning the 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.320 influence Hong Kong's protests have had on the Portland Uprising 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:47.719 and BLM protests in general. The militant protests in Hong 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.559 Kong sent shock waves across the world months before the 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.920 COVID pandemic. Hong Kong protesters used tennis, rackets and umbrellas 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.680 to deflect police projectiles, and traffic cones and water bottles 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.959 to contain and diffused here gas grenades. All of these 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.199 tactics were adapted at various points throughout the Portland protests. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:09.000 At a PPB press conference back in July, the Deputy 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.760 Chief featured an infographic describing the different rules protesters took 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.560 up in the Hong Kong uprising. P PB also tweeted 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.240 out the graphs saying, quote, we have seen all of 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:24.480 this demonstrations in Portland, unquote knowingly or unknowingly, the PPB 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.280 had aligned themselves with the Hong Kong police and their 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:31.280 crackdown on the Hong Kong protests, arguably the most widely 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.200 accepted and praise protest movement of the last decade prior 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:39.000 to the George Floyd protests. Here's Deputy Chief Chris Davis 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.800 introducing the graphic at his July eight press conference. So 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:44.680 now I want to talk just a little bit about 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.600 some of the in in broader terms, some of the 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.560 tactics that we're saying. We'll make this available as a 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.280 PDF for you. This is not sacred information here. This 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:57.080 we got this off the internet. Um, this picture popped 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.840 up a lot on social media and on the internet 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.640 right as events began. I'm not sure exactly what the 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.760 origin of this is. We're still working on trying to 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.040 figure this out. But this is not our diagram. We 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.440 got this off of off of the internet. The graphic 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:15.840 that he showed was originally based on the Hong Kong 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.080 protests and designed to assist protesters. It outlines the anatomy 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.120 of a typical protest laying out the different protest rules 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.560 that people can take on to achieve their goals. It's 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:28.600 important to note that one person doesn't need to be 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.240 stuck with a single purpose for one day. The rules 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.360 people take up and the actions they do can be 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.200 semi fluid. The graphic gave each of these rules kind 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.400 of silly names and well designed based on a different struggle. 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.960 Each of these rules was represented in some form in Portland. First, 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:48.600 our support rules that people can do from home if 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:52.360 they are unable to attend in person. These include graphic 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:56.320 designers who make posters, banners, and infographics, and people who 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:00.240 work online comms listening to police scanners and signaled usting 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.960 information about police activity and location from on the ground 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.880 sources and then distributing the information via apps like Telegram, 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.080 Signal and Twitter. Moving on to at the actual protest 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.200 in the back, barricaders people who build barricades out of 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:19.280 usually found objects. In Portland, we've seen these have two 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.080 main purposes. One to help prevent vehicular attacks on the 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.880 crowd and too quickly erect obstacles as police are chasing 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:30.200 the crowd to hopefully slow the police down. Up Next, 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.240 medics and people who help with tear gas or pepper 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:37.440 spray exposure. Medics all have different skill ranges, and in 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.040 Portland have had to deal with minor medical issues like 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.920 tear gas, but also broken bones, head trauma, seizures, and 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.080 gunshot wounds. They often stay towards the back of a 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.840 protest to both have a safe place for treatment and 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.320 in cases where an ambiliance has to be called in 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.480 closer to the middle. We have people that were playfully 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:59.080 referred to in the Hong Kong graphic as fire squads 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.320 and range soldiers. Fire squads are protesters who used water 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.520 and traffic cones to suppress and extinguished tear gas canisters. 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.520 Portland police even began collecting and confiscating city traffic cones 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.960 so that they wouldn't be used this way. Another anti 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.040 tier gas measure we've seen is simply heat resistant gloves 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.480 used to chuck tear gas back at cops or away 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:22.000 from crowds. Hockey sticks and lacrosse sticks have also been 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.440 used to relocate tear gas canisters. During the Fed War, 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.520 this group also came to include people with leafblowers who 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.800 did a really good job at keeping gas at bay. 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.720 Range soldiers are protesters who throw water bottles, paint, balloons, 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.240 and other random trash to help inhibit police from advancing 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.960 beside them are light mages and fire mages. Light mages 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.520 use lasers and flashlights to obstruct surveillance cameras, drones, and 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.800 stop police from being able to aim and identify protesters. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.320 While effective when used in the large numbers seen in 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:57.320 the Hong Kong protests, isolated lasers did very little to 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.280 obscure cameras or disrupt police surveillance, although the FEDS and 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:04.399 PPB officers did report some ice strain due to the 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.080 laser targeting. Portland police have even described being quote unquote 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:13.000 struck with objects including lasers. For example here in this 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:25.520 audio courtesy of local street reporter Jasper Florence, jets, models, 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:31.119 borders and lasers. These objects are hard and traveling at 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.360 high rates of speed. With these strike officers inter believed 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:39.560 to be coming up shots. Fire mages are protesters who 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:43.080 are prepared to set fires. Often these are two barricades 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.679 and dumpsters. Although Portland's months of protests saw extensive use 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:50.480 of fireworks and at least four molotov cocktails, half of 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.800 which actually hit fellow protesters, Thankfully, no one was permanently 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.119 injured by Molotov's in Portland during now closer to the 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.960 front piece the protesters who make up the bulk of 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.560 any marcher action and could also include people who don't 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:07.960 want to fight but join hand in hand with the 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.320 front liners and conservist human shields. During the fight with 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.040 the federal forces, thousands of Portlanders made up of the 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:17.400 peaceful crowds, while the Wall of Moms acted as a frontline, 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.040 often protecting people who were throwing tear gas canisters back 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.440 at the Feds. Another role showcased on the graphic is 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.720 what's referred to as a flag bearer. Their job is 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.879 to signal and warn when riot police are approaching. In 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.800 Hong Kong this was done via flags and signs, and 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.159 in Portland this was done by someone with a sports whistle. Then, 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.120 of course we have front liners people up at the front, 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.359 some ready to take various direct action and others with 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:47.159 umbrellas to guard against projectiles and cameras. And then at 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:51.560 the very front, shield soldiers or shield bearers with shields 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.320 made out of foam would or sometimes umbrellas. In July, 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.080 Portland got pretty famous for its shield wall. But like 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:01.080 everything else, needs to be a tactic that's carefully applied 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.480 under certain conditions, or it can actually be a hindrance. 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.879 In theory, shield walls serve two main purposes to deflect 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.360 against projectiles and offer a first line of defense from 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.560 charging enemies or people attacking with batons. Shields are effective 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:20.239 at stop immunition fire, but when facing bullrushes, shields are 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.280 grabbed by police and used to gain leverage on protesters 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.760 to push them onto the ground or destabilize them so 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.680 they can be attacked and arrested. One element of a 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:32.200 truly effective shield wall, whether you're advancing or simply holding 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.159 your ground, is people behind the shield wall throwing projectiles, 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.520 because often merely a shield wall alone isn't enough to 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.880 deter people, which is why when law enforcement brings out 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.360 their shields, they also have people behind them shooting grenades 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:49.639 to your gas at pepper balls. Another advantage of the 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.280 shield wall projectile combo is that shields can be used 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.760 to visually obstruct the police from seeing who is throwing objects, 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.800 making them targeted arrests more difficult. But you better be 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:03.480 confident in your throw or you might hit your friends. 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.200 Although even having a shield in the first place makes 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:09.639 you more of a target for arrests, and if you 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:12.399 touch an officer with your shield, let's say, by an 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.560 officer charging directly at you at full speed, you can 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:19.320 get charged with assaulting a police officer. Probably the most 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.920 effective shield wall we've seen in Portland was not used 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.240 against the PPB or the Feds, but the Proud Boys 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.160 and other street fascists. On August two, all these different 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.280 elements came together in a rare instance, a strong, tight, 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.440 interlocking network of shields with support from behind, enough to 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:39.520 stop incoming attackers and folks behind the wall throwing rocks, 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:43.320 water bottles, and fireworks. Altogether, it was enough to break 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:47.840 the far rights more disorganized and individualistic shield wall. And also, 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.600 of course, the Proud Boys don't have arresting powers, so 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.320 people are more free to push back with their shields. 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.080 Other consideration for shields depend on what your objective is 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.679 and what tactics do you use to achieve that objective. 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:02.840 In the fall, as crowds thinned and protests began to 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:06.639 move faster, the large, bulky shields were largely abandoned by 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:10.840 some protesters in favor of umbrellas. Shields can be heavy 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:13.520 and awkward to move with. Plus there's getting the shield 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:16.119 to the action, carrying it around, and then figuring out 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:18.320 what you want to do with it afterwards. These are 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.560 all added considerations, particularly if you want to leave a 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:25.200 protest more covertly. As great as it may be to 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:27.960 have a wooden, foam or plastic shield in the moment 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.040 as you're deflecting grenades or pushing off someone, it may 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.159 not be worth all those extra tradeoffs, especially if an 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:54.879 umbrella can suffice in your immunitions shielding needs. Umbrellas are 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:56.879 more of a multi use tool that can adapt to 0:22:57.000 --> 0:23:01.760 different situations and even be concealable, especially collapsible ones. While 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:04.800 not as sturdy as a shield, umbrellas are generally less 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:08.639 suspicious than huge wooden shields. A reinforced banner can also 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:13.119 provide some protection from unitions while also sending out a message. However, 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:16.119 some places have legal restrictions on what banners can be 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:20.280 made of. Throughout the summer, nightly actions focused on direct confrontation, 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.960 with police often returning to repeatedly confront the same riot line. 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:28.560 By August, while protest tactics remained largely unchanged, the Portland 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:32.680 police tactics began to change PPB alternated between knights of 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:35.840 brutal bul rushes and physical violence with only few arrests, 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:39.840 and other knights where they conducted mass arrests of entire crowds. 0:23:40.480 --> 0:24:08.199 There are By fall, smaller crowd sizes and less frequent 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:12.400 actions required protesters to change up tactics as well. Repeated 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:15.399 direct confrontation with riot lines was in many ways a 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:18.199 habit picked up from the days of mass mobilization at 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:23.000 the fence, and such confrontations took arrests for granted. Protesters 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.359 were being treated as disposable. When Portland had been the 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:30.359 focus of national news, facing down police lines reliably generated 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:33.840 front page coverage of police brutality, But by early fall 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:37.200 Portland was no longer the focus of attention, and over 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:40.720 time the shock and awe of footage showcasing police brutality 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:45.520 wears off, even as people keep getting hurt. By October, 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:48.760 nighttime actions began to involve smaller crowds of people on 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:51.919 Black Block smashing the windows of banks, real estate firms, 0:24:52.000 --> 0:24:55.080 and Starbucks coffee shops and then attempting to vanish into 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:58.280 the night. These actions raised familiar objections from the more 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:01.159