PORTLAND (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd July, 2020) Russian journalists covering protests in Portland were attacked, beaten and had their equipment destroyed by US law enforcement officers on Wednesday night as Federal agents moved to forcefully disperse a crowd which was besieging a downtown courthouse.
Portland, a predominately white city in America's northwest, is home to the nation's longest and arguably most intense anti-racism campaign, which has been raging for 55 days. Protests have over recent weeks grown in numbers and evolved into a nightly fight against the federal forces that President Donald Trump deployed to the city despite opposition from local Democratic authorities.
Hundreds of mostly white youngsters in helmets, gas masks and goggles, congregated around the federal courthouse with dozens of heavily armed agents inside. The gathering swiftly turned violent when protesters kicked and pounded on massive plywood panels covering glass doors of the building. Some tried to block the entrance, while others were attempting to break through the defenses with hammers and crowbars. Laser pointers were used to blind surveillance cameras.
"Feds go away," chanted the crowd. Women in yellow T-shirts formed a human chain dangerously close to the frontline in an effort to stop the police from using excessive force, a new phenomenon dubbed the "Wall of Moms."
"I am not protesting, I am protecting," one of the participants said.
Vyacheslav Arkhipov, a cameraman for Channel One Russia, was filming the protesters' attempt to torch the entrance to the federal courthouse when agents in military-style camouflage and full riot gear unexpectedly advanced from the rear to scatter the crowd with batons, tear gas, flashbangs and plastic bullets as big as a champagne cork.
Arkhipov was simultaneously assaulted by several officers who hit him with a baton on his arm, threw him to the ground, took his camera away and smashed it.
A Channel One correspondent ,Yulia Olkhovskaya, was filming the same scene on her mobile phone when an officer grabbed her by the head and knocked off her helmet. Olkhovskaya fell, shouting "I'm press, I'm press." The woman believes this deterred the agent from beating her. She has several scratches from falling to the ground. Olkhovskaya and Arkhipov both had their press badges visibly displayed all the time.
Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced the attacks as unacceptable and called on US law enforcement officers to follow the country's international commitments when dealing with the press.
"We consider the deliberate aggression by the US law enforcement agencies against the members of the media to be unacceptable," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
When the officers retreated, the Russian journalists returned to the courthouse entrance and found a memory card from a destroyed camera which captured most of the assault. Prior to that, Olkhovskaya and Arkhipov suffered from tear gas dispersed in canisters indiscriminately. They were assisted by volunteer medics.
"After 2.00 am. I'll probably call it a day," a local elderly woman told Sputnik while sitting on the pavement and pouring water on her face after a severe tear gas attack. She refused any help. "It's my fourth time here, so I'm well-supplied," the woman explained. Unlike other protest localities, it's common for people in Portland to thank journalists "for being with us."
Federal agents were also seen capturing protesters and dragging them inside the building. Recently disclosed data suggests that there are currently 114 officers, presumably from the US Marshals service, protecting federal facilities in Portland. Since July 4, they have made over 40 arrests, infuriating locals by using inconspicuous civilian vehicles. Trump has repeatedly hailed the success of the deployment and promised to replicate the practice in other localities.
"We want the feds to leave. But we have been out there long before the feds ... trying to abolish the Portland police department. We would like to see a major reduction or a complete abolition of the Portland police," a young activist in a black helmet and a bandana of the same color explained. In a summary of night's events, Portland police said that it did not engage with any crowds, did not deploy any CS gas and made no arrests.
The protesters' goal is not to leave the city unprotected, but prevent crime by meeting people's needs ahead of time. "Instead of using strange men with guns to inflict violence on people you reduce harm and prevent it ahead of time by serving people, keeping their basic needs met, creating community-oriented solutions that don't involve men with guns arresting people," the activist said.
The man is in charge of the "Riot Ribs" shift and with several assistants cooks free barbecue for protesters lining up to grills a few dozen feet away from the courthouse packed with federal agents.
"It started with one former Black Panther. He just pitched up a grill and made some ribs and then a bunch of us came and started helping out. The whole operation is on day 18 today, I think," he said.
