local coverage of tree lighting in portland
Reporting on the tree lighting in Portland
America has ALWAYS had secret police
The video excerpt shows two police officers approaching Gibson near the end of the day. One officer says, “I just talked to Jeff Niiya, and he asked me to tell you that he has probable cause to arrest a couple of the guys here.
“They’ve arrested the other side, so it’s not singling you guys out,” the officer adds.
“But it’s time to go,” the officer says. “If you guys can go home, there won’t be any arrests.”
...Since Sunday night, dozens of protesters under the banner of #OccupyICEPDX have been maintaining a round-the-clock vigil outside the prison. They are demanding an abolition of ICE and an end to the Trump administration’s policy of forcibly separating children from parents fleeing across the U.S. border from violence-ravaged countries....
...Three cars with darkened windows exited a garage and attempted to drive out the entrance. Some twenty protesters formed a line and locked arms. Staring down the drivers, “They blocked them from leaving the facility,” said Jacob Bureros, an organizer with the Direct Action Alliance.
The vehicles went back inside the ICE garage. Two officers with the Department of Homeland Security showed up to negotiate with the protesters. Jenny Nickolaus, another organizer with DAA, said a couple of dozen people engaged with the police in bulletproof vests. The two cops asked for “reasonable accommodation from the protesters.”
When asked what that meant, says Nickolaus, the DHS police pleaded with protesters “to allow nine ICE employees stuck inside to be able to ‘to go home to their families.’”
The protesters exploded with outrage “at the ridiculous irony in that statement,” says Nickolaus....
... But protesters have succeeded in shutting down the ICE prison. One woman with a Spanish accent who said she was trying to pay a fee was not allowed to enter the building. A guard inside said the building is closed and “It’s unknown when it will open.” ...
