Social justice activists in Portland have long complained that the Police are unfair and heavy-handed in their treatment of protesters. On October 15, the Portland Police Bureau made this point clear in front of hundreds. A peaceful demonstration was flagrantly endangered by the Mounted Patrol Unit, menaced with a shotgun-toting riot squad, and before the sun set six demonstrators were in jail, including one who sustained serious injuries.
Roughly four hundred people had gathered, with only two days' notice, to protest the latest development in the case of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. The multi-racial crowd assembled at the Federal Building, stopped at the Justice Center and made its way to Pioneer Courthouse Square. Along the way, many demonstrators were shocked at the disproportionate show of force from the Police.
Particularly unnerving was the Mounted Patrol Unit. At least two horses were clearly agitated as Police maneuvered them through rush hour traffic; protesters kept clear of the animals as they nervously bucked and kicked. As the march made its way back to the Federal Building, Sergeant David Pool, head of the Mounted Patrol, forced the group to take an alternate route. No traffic was being blocked (except by the Police), and this was clearly unnecessary, intended only to intimidate the marchers. Not to be outdone, Pool's saddle-straddling subordinates increased their intimidation and threats to the protesters: On several occasions they charged through the ranks of the march without warning. A Copwatcher witnessed one mounted officer come within three feet of trampling a toddler.
Though demonstrators yelled angrily at the cops for endangering the public, the crowd comported itself with distinction and absolute non-violence. Not a single incident of property damage, violence, or crime of any sort had occurred, but the Police deployed a riot squad as the crowd neared the Federal Building. At the rear of the march several socially-conscious elders from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom were tailed by a phalanx of helmeted riot police. When the demonstration returned to the Federal Building, riot police with so-called "less-than-lethal" shotguns (see PPRs #12, 15 & 16) were already lined up across the street.
Organizers from the Portland Free Mumia Coalition, judging the demonstration a success, declared the protest over and asked people to return their signs and disperse in groups. By the time the crowd had dwindled to a fourth of its original size, Sergeant Pool bravely made his move. Noticing that a young man had dropped a flower in Chapman Square, a public park, Pool had him arrested for "Offensive Littering." Of course, this charge was not applied to the Mounted Unit's distribution of horse feces throughout downtown that afternoon. When others began demanding justification for this arrest, they too were threatened.
Liberation Collective activist Craig Rosebraugh began questioning Pool, who ordered him out of the park. When Rosebraugh asserted his right to stand peaceably in a park, Pool reached down from his steed and grabbed Rosebraugh by the shoulder, admonishing him not to be a "big man," and threatened him by name: "Craig, you've made yourself a martyr" (Willamette Week, 10/27/99). Pool used his horse to try and knock Rosebraugh down, and a helmeted cop tackled Craig from behind, snapping his arm. Two horse cops galloped in a small circle around the arrest, stepping on Rosebraugh at least once and coming within two feet of his head. The mounted officers appeared to be using this tactic solely to block the arrest from view. As Rosebraugh cried out that his arm was broken, the arresting officer yanked him up by the arm and dragged him across the street to the Justice Center.
When a woman protested that the cops were being brutal, one officer shoved her into the busy street. After she narrowly missed being run over by a cab, she was arrested. Another man was arrested while sitting in the park playing a didjeridu. Mumia Coalition member and Portland State faculty member Roderick Franklin was arrested for using a bullhorn--about a half hour after the last time he had used it. The sixth arrestee was a man who had been calmly and assertively questioning police on the other side of the street about their actions.
On November 8, Rosebraugh, the didjeridu player, and the flower dropper were arraigned and face hearings for violations. The woman who was shoved into traffic and the man asking questions had no charges brought before them (for now). Roderick's arraignment was scheduled for Nov. 15, but it appears that his charges are on hold as well.
The selective harassment of individuals trying to leave demonstrations is a common police tactic. What happened at this demo was different only in magnitude, not in kind. The actions of the Portland Police Bureau can only be described as a vulgar show of force and political intimidation. By harassing and brutalizing protesters, the Police hope to stifle dissent and frighten people away from exercising their rights. We must not be intimidated by this. We must continue to turn out in ever greater numbers to call attention to injustice. Copwatch will be there, documenting the Police and holding them accountable. Will you?
for more information contact
the Portland Free Mumia Coalition at (503) 287-4217
or the Liberation Collective at (503) 525-4975.
Sidebar: Over 150 March Against Police Brutality
(10/22/99)
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