Portland mayor promises to 'push back' against Antifa
Is it too late for Ted Wheeler to get tough against this radical left group? Portland attorney James Buchal with reaction.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was accosted by protesters, accused of punching him Wednesday night while he was dining out.
Conservative journalist Andy Ngo posted a video of the tense encounter on Twitter.
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Ngo described the hecklers as "BLM-antifa" extremists, but their precise affiliation could not be independently verified.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
The video shows Wheeler and an unidentified person dining at Café Nell’s in Northwest Portland when he’s approached by a group of protesters.
A person off-camera can be heard shouting obscenities at the Democratic mayor while he remains calm. Wheeler tells the shouter he needs to grow up, while protesters can be heard arguing with staff in the background.
The mayor asks one of the protesters how old he is and tells him he needs to grow up.
"You are going to be made to feel like the scum you are," the protester says in the video. "F--- you! F--- you! Shame on you!"
Jim Middaugh, a spokesman for the mayor, told The Oregonian that the hecklers "pushed their way past restaurant employees" to confront Wheeler while he was dining.
The Democratic mayor asked the group to leave, and "at that point, one member of the group started swatting the mayor and made physical contact with him," Middaugh said.
A spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau described the interaction to Oregon Public Broadcasting as a "punch," but it was not captured on video.
Wheeler was eating in an exterior tent, because of COVID-19 restrictions, which allow outdoor dining.
The mayor did not press charges and no arrests were made.
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Portland made national headlines last year as one of the epicenters of mass protests that broke out nationwide in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. For more than 100 consecutive nights, the city was marred by violence as protesters clashed with police.
