The Trump administration is rebuking Portland officials for enabling a violent siege that has dragged on for nearly eight weeks, firing the latest salvo in a clash with leftist mayors over failures to restore order to US cities.
Portland’s leaders “refuse to restore order to protect their city,” acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf said in a statement issued Thursday. He provided a 47-day timeline, stretching from May 29 to July 15, chronicling a series of attacks on property and people by “violent anarchists.”
The statement came two days after Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said his biggest concern was the violent tactics that federal law enforcement officers were using against protesters. “We do not need or want their help,” he added, and suggested that federal officers “stay inside their building or leave Portland altogether.”
The best thing they can do is stay inside their building, or leave Portland altogether. Our goal is to end these violent demonstrations quickly and safely. And in the meantime, I asked him to clean up the graffiti on local federal facilities.
US Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, wrote a letter to Wolf and Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday complaining that a “peaceful protester” had been shot in the head with a crowd-control weapon. “[President Donald] Trump thinks he can treat law enforcement as his personal occupying army,” Wyden said. “Not on my watch. I’m demanding answers.”
This weekend a peaceful protestor was shot in the head with a potentially deadly crowd control munition after Donald Trump deployed fed’l law enforcement to Portland. Trump thinks he can treat law enforcement as his personal occupying army. Not on my watch. I’m demanding answers: pic.twitter.com/9MytI1M05A
Wolf said his department won’t abdicate its responsibility to protect federal properties and their occupants. Officers have been assaulted with hammers, slingshots and other weapons, he said, and the Hatfield Courthouse and other federal buildings have been repeatedly damaged. Local businesses have reported an estimated $23 million in damages from looting and rioting.
“A federal courthouse is a symbol of justice,” Wolf said. “To attack it is to attack America.”
Instead of addressing violent criminals in their communities, local and state leaders are instead focusing on placing blame on law enforcement and requesting fewer officers in their community. This failed response has only emboldened the violent mob as it escalates violence day after day.
Portland police did draw the line at one point, eliminating a so-called autonomous zone set up by protesters. Portland police and federal officers cleared out the Chinook Land Autonomous Territory (CLAT) camp early Thursday.
Homeland Security also worked with city police on July 10, when Wolf said federal officers stopped an ambush attack on a Portland policeman during a shift change. “I reiterate the department’s offer to assist local and state leaders to bring an end to the violence perpetuated by anarchists,” he said.
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