Portland police have brought a swift and unceremonious end to a newly-created ‘autonomous zone’ in the city, which was seen by many as an offshoot of a now-defunct protester camp in Seattle.
Protesters camping out at the Chinook Land Autonomous Territory (CLAT) were ordered by law enforcement to leave the area on Thursday morning. Several arrests were made due to non-compliance, according to local media.
Videos and photographs show police and federal officers clearing out the streets around Portland’s Lownsdale Square Park, the location of the short-lived ‘autonomous’ zone. The park sits across the street from the city’s federal courthouse, which has been under siege for the past several weeks by demonstrators.
Seeing some arrests happening in Lownsdale Park in downtown Portland. Portland Police have cleared Lownsdale and Chapman Square of protesters, near the Federal Courthouse. We’ve seen a few federal officers as well #LiveOnK2pic.twitter.com/7yOP4Re6m4
In an update posted to Twitter, Portland’s police force said that the park had been vacated and would remain closed to the public until further notice.
@MultCoSO assisted @PortlandPolice with removing trespassers from Chapman and Lonsdale parks. Both parks are badly damaged and will need extensive restoration. pic.twitter.com/zpn0WOPnZO
CLAT did not survive nearly as long as its Seattle-based predecessor, CHAZ (later renamed CHOP), which lasted for three weeks before widespread violence forced authorities to intervene. Portland demonstrators began setting up barricades and tents on Tuesday night, meaning CLAT existed for less than 48 hours.
Tuesday 11:30pm in Portland, OregonProtestors are trying to setup their own barricades to create their PDX version of CHOP. Many have tents setup across from the Justice Center. This is after the Portland Mayor told the Feds to leave the city ASAP. pic.twitter.com/OH69fQPQ44
Footage taken at the camp on Wednesday night showed a small group of people gathering around a bonfire that had been lit at the former site of an elk statue, which was removed by the city after being severely vandalized. Protesters used the fire to torch an American flag.
And they’re having themselves a little flag burning. #flagburning#blacklivesmatter#protest#pdx#portland#oregon#blm#acab#portland#justicecenter#riotribs#CLATpic.twitter.com/YEIAuI1czQ
“After a series of small incidents of infighting, peace and calm has returned to #CLAT,” reported one witness on the ground.
Although it lacked many of the refinements of the Seattle protest camp, CLAP did boast a CHOP “embassy.”
We got CHOP in the CLAT!!! Shoutout again Seattle ??#BlackLivesMatter#PortlandProtests#PortlandProtest#AbolishThePolice#PDXprotests#pdx#DefendPdx#ACAB#Portland#ACABSpring#CLAT#CHOP#seattleprotests#Seattlepic.twitter.com/METvbLETVm
Many on Twitter applauded the police for dismantling the camp before it could descend into violence and anarchy. However, others argued that the response had been too heavy-handed. A video clip shows police knocking a protester off his bicycle, purportedly after the demonstrators failed to leave the area.
WATCH – Portland Police officers knock a protester off of his bicycle and arrest him outside of Lownsdale Square Park near the Federal Courthouse downtown #LiveOnK2pic.twitter.com/tow0GzeyzW
Nightly skirmishes between demonstrators and law enforcement tasked with guarding the federal courthouse have become increasingly violent. In a recent altercation, a demonstrator was seen trying to hit a federal officer with a hammer, before being surrounded and arrested by law enforcement.
Here is the shocking video showing Jacob Michael Gaines prepping an overhead hammer strike on federal law enforcement at the courthouse during the antifa riot. pic.twitter.com/YXslTii2aE
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