Reports from Occupy: 11/8

Portland, Ore.

By Matthew Denney

I WAS among 37 people arrested in two separate police raids on Occupy Portland demonstrations in the early morning hours of October 30 and November 1. The raids came as Occupy Portland demonstrators attempted to exercise our First Amendment right to assembly.

Expansion of our camp is necessary, as Portland has one of the largest encampments outside of New York City. Hundreds of tents are crowded into two city blocks in the downtown financial district, and though Portland Mayor Sam Adams has declined to enforce park curfews there, he has ordered dozens of riot police to arrest protesters at other parks, saying he will not tolerate an expansion of the protest.

I was arrested with 26 others on October 30 for sitting in at Jamison Square in Portland's Pearl District. The Pearl is a neighborhood of stark inequality where dozens of luxury condominium buildings sit next to some of the only new low-income housing in the city.

The neighborhood adjoins downtown and is a popular tourist destination, and Jamison Square is the most visible public space in the area. Cameron, a fellow arrestee I spoke with, felt that it would be a good space for occupiers due to its visibility, public restroom and forum-like design. However, no attempt was made to establish an encampment on October 30. Rather, we merely planned to hold an all-night sit-in as a way to assert our right to exercise political speech in the park.

When I arrived around 6 p.m., about 70 people were discussing the proposed sit-in. After some time, we split into two groups--those willing to sit in and risk arrest and those wishing to act in a support capacity. Although I disagreed with the idea of splitting into groups based on such a distinction, I joined the group willing to sit in.

At first, I wasn't fully committed to sitting in because of the risk of arrest, but I was inspired by the stories of those around me who were willing to do so--most of whom had never been to a protest prior to the Occupy movement, but who were moved by Occupy Wall Street to take a stand against inequality in our society. Starting discussions with other activists in the hours before the sit-in solidified a bond of solidarity between us and kept us together throughout the night.

Well before the park's midnight curfew approached, dozens of riot police in full uniform and at least a half-dozen mounted police stood around the perimeter of the square, and by 11 approximately 300 Occupy Portland supporters had also arrived. Those of us willing to risk arrest formed a 25-person circle in the square and sat down, arm in arm, while supporters stood around us in solidarity.

From 11 p.m. to midnight, an open speak-out was held, and Occupy Portland demonstrators spoke out against corporate greed and for solidarity with Oakland. At midnight, a Portland parks official announced the official "closure" of the park and stated that those of us who remained would be subject to arrest. The standoff had begun.

Within the circle, the mood was extremely cheerful, and we gained a couple of new arrivals. All of us linked arms, and I had an almost indescribable feeling of solidarity with everyone there; we were united in the same struggle. Those of us in the circle shared stories about our lives and what brought us there in between chants, as "We are the 99 percent" reverberated through the air.

The people I shared the circle with were amazing. We were a racially diverse group that included both a 16-year-old and a 57-year-old grandmother. At least six of us identified as LGBT. And all of us stood in solidarity throughout the night, never breaking the circle.

A few minutes after midnight, the police began to move in. But the mounted police only moved forward to harass the circle of marchers around us as an intimidation tactic. One of the first arrests came as a man was shoved to the ground next to the circle after refusing to put down his sign; a police officer nearly elbowed me in the scuffle to arrest him.

Meanwhile, riot police with shields moved to the edges of the square to corral demonstrators and kettle them onto the sidewalk. A female musician who had earlier performed in the square for demonstrators was arrested by police and pulled back between two horses.

When arrests finally began around 1:30 a.m., we kept the mood light. One young demonstrator used his vast knowledge of viral YouTube videos to keep us entertained; the honey badger isn't afraid of the police, so why should we be? This was essential in reducing our anxiety as we watched our fellow demonstrators being manhandled into police vans, one at a time.

I was the last person to be arrested, possibly because of my disability that requires me to wear leg braces and use crutches. I was put into the police van at about 3 a.m. with three female demonstrators, all of whom were parents with children at home. We were also kept in the van last after we arrived at the county jail; I didn't exit the van until 6:30 a.m. We were not released to use the restroom during that time.

Eventually, the four of us were booked into the Multnomah County Jail, where we were held for several hours before being released.

Six of us were arraigned on October 31, and I entered a plea of not guilty to trespassing and requested a jury trial. Other arrestees did the same, and we plan on challenging our arrest and detention in court.

On November 2, more than 40 Portland riot police were used to arrest an additional 10 Occupy Portland demonstrators during a 4 a.m. raid. They were allegedly camping at Terry Schrunk Plaza, a park on federal land that adjoins the main Occupy Portland encampment downtown.

Federal officials had asked for the assistance of the Portland police to arrest the demonstrators, and Mayor Adams approved their request, again reiterating that he would not allow any expansion of the Occupy Portland encampment. Since October 13, at least 45 people in Portland have now been arrested for peacefully participating in the Occupy Portland movement.

If nothing else, the recent police raids on Occupy Portland demonstrations indicate that the 1 percent are concerned about the success of the movement in changing political consciousness. We are in a period where ideas are changing rapidly, and more and more people are recognizing that working-class people actually have the potential to challenge the capitalist system we live under.

Even politicians who claim to support the movement, such as Mayor Adams, are willing to authorize force in attempts to contain it and reinstitute paradigms of "acceptable" and "unacceptable" dissent. In the coming days, it will be absolutely essential that activists in Portland and around the world educate themselves politically--particularly about the role the state plays in supporting and upholding capitalism and oppression.

With each step we take toward a politicized, class-conscious movement, we get one step closer to liberating ourselves from state repression permanently.