The New Untouchables
It was riot time again in Portland and the mayor didn’t order the police to stand down. He didn’t have to thanks to a new law in Oregon that prevents police from using anything to break up a riot on the penalty of serious prison time.
So far, so good.
Not one rioter or police officers was arrested and the damage only amounted to half a million dollars. Antifa rioted to memorialize the death of one of its members who was hit by an SUV.
The Daily Mail reported on Portland Antifa:
At least 100 self-proclaimed anarchists tore through Portland, setting dumpsters aflame, smashing windows and causing $500,000 in damage, but police stood idle because of a new state law that restricts how law enforcement can respond to riots.
The city just reached the ‘grim’ milestone of 1,000 shootings through 2021 in what has been a year of destructive protests, violent street clashes and a police staffing crisis.
Now police say a recently passed law ties their hands even further as it prohibits police from using crowd control techniques like pepper spray or tear gas. Instead, law enforcement agencies are told to rely on follow-up investigations to hold rioters accountable.
Portland’s latest round of violence broke out after a memorial for Sean Kealiher, an Antifa activist who was struck and killed by an SUV in October 2019 after getting in a fight with the driver at a bar earlier that night.
Police have not made any arrests in connection to Kealiher’s death, though his mother Laura believes they have identified the culprits, according to the Oregonian/Oregon Live. She organized last Tuesday’s protest on Twitter, writing that it was ‘not a peaceful event’ and dubbing it ‘a night of rage and anger.’
Antifa has been angry over what they consider lack of a robust investigation into the killing. Kealiher and a group of his friends got into an argument with another group and the other group jumped in an SUV. The driver then aimed the vehicle at Kealiher and gunned the gas, hitting Kealiher and then smashing into a building. The driver was unable to back up from the building so he and the rest of the group jumped out of the SUV and fled on foot. The case has never been solved, so I assume the SUV was stolen.
