Masked "special forces" in the city of Portland

Trump No 66: The (possibly friendly) Sheriff is a thing of the past - President Trump has sent special forces to the city of Portland, Oregon, to spread fear and terror there for the past few days. The Governor of Oregon and the Mayor of Portland are "not amused" by unmarked masked military personnel moving around in cars that do not have official license plates. They are therefore indistinguishable from right-wing "civil defense" forces. The conditions are similar to the occurrence of Contras in Central America.

The Mayor of Portland, Ted Wheeler, demands, "Get your troops out of town." Governor Kate Brown is trying to get the federal government to withdraw its troops Oregon attorney general Ellen Rosenblum said she's filing a lawsuit against the federal government for detaining people without cause.

Several other senior Oregon officials have spoken out strongly against President Trump's sending Homeland Security officials to Portland. The governor tweeted:

This political theater by President Trump has nothing to do with public safety. The president is failing to lead this nation. Now he sends federal agents patrolling the streets of Portland in a blatant abuse of power by the federal government. (@OregonGovBrown) July 16, 2020

The civil rights organization ALCU is also outraged by the federal police's attacks on journalists and legal observers in Portland.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon today sued the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service, which have sent federal agents to Portland, Oregon. These agents, who were deployed against the explicit objections of local leaders and community members, indiscriminately used tear gas, rubber bullets and acoustic weapons against protesters, journalists and law enforcement officials. Federal officials shot a protestor in the head with a rubber bullet on Sunday. The victim is in hospital with severe facial and cranial injuries.

"This is a fight to save our democracy," said Kelly Simon, interim legal director of the Oregon ACLU. "Under the leadership of the Trump administration, federal officials are terrorizing the community, risking lives and brutally attacking protesters demonstrating against police brutality. This is yet another escalation that comes on top of the police escalation. These federal agents must be stopped and removed from our city. We will continue to use all ACLU resources until this lawless policing comes to an end.

"What's happening in Portland is an unconstitutional nightmare," said Vera Eidelman, a member of the ACLU's speech, privacy and technology project. "This is not law and order. This is lawlessness. The ACLU will not allow the government to respond to protests against police brutality with even more brutality. We will continue to hold law enforcement at all levels of government accountable, as we have done nationwide.

We will bring the Trump administration to justice to stop the unconstitutional actions of federal agents in Portland, Oregon.

Aktion Freiheit statt Angst  s also appalled by this lawlessness and undeclared state of emergency - but also by the lack of coverage in our media. We only learn about human rights violations when they happen in Russia or China.

Read more https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/a-constitutional-crisis-in-portland/
and https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-sues-federal-agents-portland
and https://www.voanews.com/usa/aclu-us-federal-officers-actions-protests-flat-out-unconstitutional

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