Over the past year and a half, Portland has become a hotbed of clashes between the pro-Trump group “Patriot Prayer” and Antifa. On August 4, Patriot Prayer will be holding another free speech rally and Antifa organizations are calling for “direct confrontation.”
These rallies and counter protests have repeatedly become violent and bloody, and this time, Oregon Antifa are discussing bringing guns.
“Rose City Antifa has continued their great work of doxxing the Portland area Proud Boys involved in this violence, and is also calling for militant antifascist resistance against Patriot Prayer,” a call to action published to the militant leftist website It’s Going Down states.
In a statement provided to IGD, a spokesperson for Rose City Antifa said that the goal of August’s action will be to “show that the community will not allow violent nationalist opportunists to threaten our city and target our people. We will overwhelm them both by force of numbers and commitment to defending our community. Whatever it takes.”
The call to action urged readers to use “direct confrontation” to “eliminate” Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys’ ability to hold rallies. Neither of the groups are white nationalists, but that didn’t stop Antifa from demanding that they are to inflame tensions.
“Without direct confrontation, PP and other white nationalist groups will feel entitled to threaten people where ever and whenever they like. First they target Anti-Fascists and Anti-ICE activists, then they target Pride, marginalized community spaces, minorities, and migrants. They believe ‘might makes right’ and unless the community steps in to stop them, there is no telling who they will attack next for political gain,” the call to action continued.
https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1023011060012474368
In a discussion about the event that was uncovered by journalist Tim Pool, members of Antifa discussed the need to bring guns to protest.
During the Patriot Prayer rally in June, protesters were throwing bottles and fireworks at police and officers seized bear mace, knives and other weapons.
“Their speech has consequences, and we have the right to stand together against their hate in our city,” Antifa member Effie Baum told IGD.
