Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler vowed to “push back harder” against anarchists and Antifa radicals, after another riot rocked the city on New Year’s Eve, conceding that months of efforts to stem the violence had failed.
“My efforts to de-escalate in good faith are met with ongoing violence and even ridicule from radical Antifa and anarchists,” Wheeler told a KOIN Friday news conference. “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.”
PORTLAND POLICE DECLARE RIOT AS BEARED BY THE CITY OF THE CITY IN NEW YEAR
Wheeler, a Democrat, is responding to the New Year’s Eve riot near the downtown courthouse, which has been at the center of months of violent violence this past summer. According to police, hijackers on Thursday night threw a number of firebombs at police officers and launched commercial-quality fireworks to the courthouse.
Rioters also smashed windows and set fires in the area, KOIN reported and police began using pepper spray or foil against the crowd, as well as rubber bullets or peppercorns.
Seven months after the first riots hit the city, Wheeler said it was time to take further steps to suppress the violence.
“Lawlessness and anarchy carry a lot of costs, and a huge risk to the future of our community,” he said. “It’s time to take a harder line against those who want to destroy our community, and dare more to fight lawlessness.”
He also noted the demographics of the rioters, who often claim to be fighting for racial justice.
“Why would a group of largely white, young, and some middle-aged men destroy the livelihoods of others struggling to get by?” he asks, before calling it the ‘peak of selfishness’.
Wheeler said it was difficult for him and others to ‘accept the reality that there are only people on this planet who want criminal destruction; that there are people who want to see the world burn. ‘
Some of the enforcement actions he proposed were stricter penalties for rioting, and also that offenders had to do public service and meet the owners of the businesses that were harming them.
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Violence only ripped through the Liberal stronghold all summer after the death of George Floyd by Minnesota police officers. However, Wheeler has focused on the federal law enforcement officials sent in by the Trump administration, ostensibly to protect federal buildings – and accuses them of exacerbating tensions.
In July, he said he was immediately concerned about “the violence that federal officials have brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use.”
“We do not need or want their help,” he said, a view expressed by the state’s governor and congressional delegation.
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Wheeler even joined the protesters outside the courthouse and tried to hold a “listening session” – before being hit by tear gas deployed by federal agents.
Although some protesters were receptive, many others yelled at him and voiced him, objecting to the refusal to support some of their demands, such as the abolition of the Portland Police Department.
“F — Ted Wheeler!” a protester shouted. “He can not speak, he is a fascist fascist.”
Wheeler beat a left-wing challenger in November, but continued to face the problems of anarchists and Antifa violence.
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In December, he authorized police to use “all legal means” to end an illegal occupation of a house in the city, in which protesters wanted to declare an autonomous area.
“There will be no autonomous territory in Portland,” Wheeler said.
Fox News’ David Aaro and Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.