This might not be the place for this, but it has to do with the 100 plus days of protests and/or unlawful assemblies in Portland, Oregon. Mayor Wheeler has been forces to move, businesses have been shuttered, there has been an huge up tick in shootings. What should he be doing to get control of this? What would you do?
I’d start by asking the protesters to send some representatives to speak with me about what it is they are demanding.
If the demands are things I cannot deliver on, I’d explain why I couldn’t. This would include changes that could only be made at the federal level or by private citizens.
If the demands are something I can deliver on, then it would be time to start a serious dialogue about what can be done. I’m not an advocate for mob rule, so what I would offer is to put their demands up as several referendums and have the public vote on them this upcoming election. I’m addition I’d support that the protesters nominate a candidate(s) to run for city council and or mayor, with their positions clearly stated. Again, let the public at large decide. Does Portland not allow referendums? If it doesn’t, then change the law so that referendums are allowed.
ETA. To be clear, I’m not saying I would endorse their positions and / or candidates. That would depend on what their positions are. But I would support having the public at large decide, as opposed to the local police or federal DHS agents.
I wonder if Wheeler also being the police commissioner has anything to do with the increased pressure that he faces. I think a good first step might be appointing someone else as commissioner so he can focus on mayoral duties.
Wonder if him being PC is in the city charter though.
If it is, and if that is part of the problem, then that is the sort of thing that should be up for discussion. Have a vote on changing the city charter so that this is no longer the case. Have both sides make their arguments, and let the public decide.
That’s a good idea. But what about NOW.? The protests/riots are going into neighborhoods away from the precincts and Fed. Building.
We need to distinguish between protests and riots. If someone is breaking windows, setting fires, looting, etc., then the police should arrest that specific individual.
If the protests themselves are unlawful, that’s squarely on the mayor. I would simply rescind the curfew order and now an unlawful protest is a lawful one. Now that the protest itself is lawful, police have no reason to hassle citizens exercising their legal rights.
I would then instruct police to look only for the small minority who are committing real crimes. I’d go so far as to ask the protestors if police can embed with them to keep a closer eye out for the real wrongdoers. Any officer found to be hassling those who are just out protesting would be removed from the force. Such an officer could not use the excuse that they were enforcing the law against breaking curfew because there would be no such law anymore.
What on Earth is an “unlawful assembly”? Portland is in the US, is it not? Assemblies here are explicitly lawful, according to the supreme law of the land.
The Portland PD announces it is unlawful.
The police are not a legislative body. They don’t decide what is legal or not. If in Portland they do have that power, then that power needs to be taken away from them. I assume the mayor and the city council have such power. If I was the mayor I would remove the police having such power.
Again, that’s assuming this is even accurate. I doubt police anywhere in the US have any kind of legislative authority.
They call it unlawful before they call it a riot.nit pick. Jeez.
A riot implies that there is something illegal going on other than just assembling and protesting. It could be burning down businesses, breaking windows and looting, graffiti being sprayed on private property, etc. That’s completely different than people with sign matching up and down the street. Calling the latter unlawful because it happens at night and the mayor had previously called for a curfew doesn’t make it a riot.
Ok. Let’s for the sake of argument, the protests turn to riots, destroying property etc. if you were the mayor of a Portland what is the answer?
My answer sure as heck isn’t to go after the people who aren’t rioting, as so many police departments across the country are. Heck, in a number of cases, it’s the police themselves who are rioting.
I’ve already answered that as well. Arrest the specific individuals who are acting illegally, charge them with the specific crime they’ve committed (arson, burglary, destruction of private property, etc.) and leave everyone else alone.
No charges for the crime of “unlawful protesting.” The cops are to be specifically instructed that since protesting is not illegal, they are not to act against anyone who is protesting but not commuting any other crimes. I’d even go so far that if the police do act against someone who is protesting but not committing any other crimes, that they will not only be removed from the force, but also charged with abuse of authority and assault.
The thing is they release , for the most part, the rioters the next day. It continues the next night. I can’t see an end of it with out some assistance.
I’d keep telling the Feds to back the hell off.
I would run absolute law and order, bordering on martial law.
No violence, arson, looting allowed. That goes for all right-wingers and all left-wingers. No exceptions. If you claim to be “anti-fascist” but go around terrorizing people, burning and destroying, you are…fascist.
This. Could not have said it as well myself. And, like a poster said upthread, move heaven and earth to set up dialogues with absolutely every side of the situation. Being listened to will make a huge difference, especially if it leads to change and progress in the right direction. I’m tired of needing to still be marching about the same shit for 50+ years.
In this case, martial law would be fascist. Bringing in the military when the civil authorities haven’t asked for it because some parties in power don’t like what protestors are espousing is what dictators do. It never ends well. Local law enforcement interdict with criminal activities, burning and looting, and let lawful protests continue.