After months of bloodshed, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has vowed to campaign for Antifa, whose members are waging near-evening campaigns of chaos, violence and destruction in the city.
“My efforts to de-escalate to good faith have continued with ongoing violence and even ridicule from radical Antifa and anarchists,” Wheeler told a news conference Friday night. “In response to this, it will be necessary to use additional tools and shift the limits of the tools we already have to bring the criminal destruction and violence to an end.”
“It’s time to take a harder line against those who want to destroy our community and take more risks to fight lawlessness,” Wheeler added.
The mayor granted a second term by Portland voters last month, which resulted in an open decision pro-Antifa candidate, Sarah Iannarone.
The Wheeler Press Conference was led by a riot on New Year’s Eve near the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse, which was a regular target of the stirrers.
A rally in downtown Portland has degenerated. “Participants threw several firebombs at officers and launched commercial-quality fireworks at the Federal Courthouse and Justice Center,” Portland police said. tweeted early New Year’s Day.
Antifa rioters gained free rein throughout downtown Portland throughout 2020. The situation became so bad that President Trump briefly deployed federal troops to protect U.S. property in the city in July.
“We try to help Portland and not damage it. Their leadership lost control of the anarchists and agitators for months. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. It was not just protesters, it’s the real thing! ” Trump said at that point.