PORTLAND (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th July, 2020) Dawn Swackhamer and Emily Farrer, two moms, friends and top managers in major corporations, venture into another night of Portland protests are seeking to literally shield youngsters in the streets, including their own children, from police batons, salvos of rubber bullets and clouds of tear gas.
They are part of the "Wall of Moms" movement, a local sensation, which now makes headlines, grows in numbers and sprouts across the country. Dozens of women in yellow T-shirts stand arm-in-arm placing themselves between heavily armed Federal law enforcement officers and protesters, itching for a fight. Fully supportive of the cause, moms are by no means neutral bystanders, though occasionally try to deter youngsters from risky escalations.
"We are here because black lives matter, the feds don't belong in our city and we are here to support and protect our children who are doing all to drive a change," Swackhamer says.
"Feds go home. Why? Moms say so. That's why," a handwritten placard demands.
Portland, a predominately white city in America's northwest, is home to the nation's longest and arguably most intense protests, which have been raging for over two months. Like elsewhere in the United States, the campaign started in the wake of the police-involved death of African-American man George Floyd, and, according to the locals, was waning - also like everywhere else - until President Donald Trump sent a contingent of federal forces with a stated objective to defend federal facilities in the Democratic-run stronghold of the liberal opposition.
"It all started with Black Lives Matter because of what is happening with all of the folks that are minorities in this country or people of color. And now I think the protest revolves around the police brutality - the Portland public police as well as the other federal government agencies who have no business being here," Swackhamer says.
Portlanders, who see the deployment as an encroachment on their freedoms, each night rally in hundreds near a downtown courthouse protected by federal officers while a radical minority attacks the multistoried building. Officers respond by tear-gassing, beating and shooting indiscriminately scores of people - peaceful and violent protesters, journalists, volunteer medics, human rights activists, ever more fanning the flames.
"They are not supposed to be militarized and sent to cities like that. They have no business being here. And they are violent. They are not behaving in a way that our police should. Honestly, I think because we are a small city and mainly a Democratic, liberal city. So to someone, it may seem an easy city to make a point," Farrer says.
A novice in protests, Farrer confesses that she feels scared of being tear-gassed and doesn't want to catch a rubber bullet. Swackhamer has already seen action. She says that a face-to-face encounter with police brutality was "infuriating" and only strengthened her resolve "to do something about that."
"They told us it was an unlawful assembly. But I don't agree with them. I was standing here holding my sign, chanting. There is nothing unlawful about that. So we didn't leave and they came for us," she recalls. "It was in the earlier days of the protest and that was an attack of the public police... They came in force and were shooting us with rubber bullets and with pepper bullets and the majority of people were just like me, exercising their right to a free speech. I have never felt attacked in my own country until that moment."
Asked what she is afraid of, Swackhamer quickly replies "Nothing."
"In a bigger picture I am afraid that this is a start of fascism in our country and The Trump administration is using our cities as a testing ground to remove democracy," she adds.
Trump has repeatedly hailed the success of the deployment in Portland and promised to replicate the practice in other localities, despite the opposition of local authorities.
Swackhamer comes to protest with a 19-year-old daughter, protecting her, but allowing her to make her own choices.
"Big change never comes through passive protests. I think the sacrifice of some graffiti and buildings is worth the change that these people here are driving for," she says.
At least once, however, a Sputnik reporter saw "wall moms" attempting to prevent protesters from attacking the courthouse. As dozens of youngsters in helmets and gas masks were poised to shake a metal fence around the building, pelt it with firecrackers and ignite fires, women formed a human chain right in front of them.
"We are out here to show everybody that it is peaceful. We are trying to keep it as peaceful as possible by staying here," a Teal Lindseth, a spokesperson for the movement and a mother of "an almost 6-year-old," explained.
Radicals didn't like the interference. "Why are you defending a slave tower?" one of them yelled. They soon infiltrated through the thin yellow line and another night of violence ensued with women remaining on the front line. Lindseth says they make sure that each mom has a helmet and tear gas protection.
"We are trying to stand as long as possible," she adds.
Before action, many women write down lawyers' phone numbers on their wrists in case of an arrest. Organizers say that earlier this week at least four moms were detained.
Violent as they are, protests remain focused on the courthouse and a small adjacent area with the rest of the city continuing with its daily routine. A Sputnik reporter, who has been working in Portland for most of the week, hasn't seen any significant acts of looting or vandalism not directed to the single federal building.
"I think I have just been robbed," according to an employee of a small grocery store still open in the darkness of the night and used by protesters for respite after fierce tear gas attacks. It took them five minutes to find and return the loot.
In contrast to other hotspots, many windows in the downtown area are uncovered with plywood panels but still survive nightly riots. In Portland journalists, who elsewhere are increasingly harassed by protesters, are more likely to hear words of appreciation "for being with us."
"City of the politest protests in the country. Sounds like a new tourist slogan," a hotel manager laughs after hearing the observations in a late night small talk with a visiting reporter.
