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Videos from Portland showed a crowd of demonstrators violently shut down an event where Christians gathered to pray on the waterfront – before another clash Saturday afternoon involved Antifascists and alleged Proud Boys members throwing projectiles at each other on a city street.
Police officers did not intervene in either confrontation – besides a squad car sounding its siren just feet away.
The first instance of violence happened Saturday at an open-air event planned at Tom McCall Waterfront Park near the Battleship Oregon Memorial to be hosted by Artur Pawlowski, a traveling preacher who’s been arrested in Canada for holding in-person worship services in violation of coronavirus restrictions. Several Antifa Twitter accounts tweeted about the planned event, the Post Millennial reported, and videos posted online showed that a crowd of demonstrators dressed in black bloc attire showed up at the waterfront to confront worshippers.
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Dozens of people carrying black umbrellas and shields are seen spraying red and yellow gas at the group of worshippers, as other Antifa members steal sound equipment, lawn chairs and wagons left across the lawn by families who had come to listen to the pastor speak.
"All Cops are B*******, in the name of Jesus," a male’s voice is heard saying during the melee.
Children, including toddlers, were in attendance at the worship event when the group of Antifa demonstrators began throwing projectiles, including eggs, one woman told a videographer at the scene.
"They threw a flash bomb into a group of kids who were out there," she said.
A male worshipper said a pastor had walked up to ask the group of demonstrators to stop -- but he was pepper sprayed. The woman is seen attending the pastor’s eyes covered by an orange substance.
The Portland Tribune reported that members of the far-right group, Proud Boys, later descended on the worship event and clashed with the Antifa members. Additional video circulated online by independent journalist Andy Ngo shows the clashes carried onto a nearby city street, and the alleged Proud Boys members, seen dressed in yellow and black garb, fired a paint ball gun at several Antifa members.
WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
A squad car for the Portland Police Bureau pulls up and flashes its siren – but seemingly had no impact in stopping the confrontation. A man is heard yelling at the officer behind the wheel, "Do your job."
Once the groups converged at the waterfront, a fight broke out but the confrontation there was "over prior to any police response," Portland Police Bureau spokesman Derek Carmon told KOIN. "As the groups left, there was a report of another small fight that was over prior to police response. No arrests were made and no one came forward to report any crimes that we are aware of."
"Police had no interaction with either group today," Carmon added.
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Screenshots shared by Ngo showed that another Antifa-affiliated Twitter account later tweeted that members threw the sound equipment into the Willamette River and stole sandwiches and water bottles belonging to the Christian group – before then giving them back out to the homeless.
