Energized from the Republican National Convention and President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech Thursday night, Trump supporters are planning a vehicle parade through the Portland area Saturday.
According to a Facebook event, the rally is scheduled to start in Clackamas in the late afternoon and continue through Portland.
In the president’s remarks, he again condemned ongoing protests against racist violence in the city.
“They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide,” the president said in his acceptance speech Thursday night. “They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden’s America.”
Multiple comments on the event page for Saturday’s rally showed photos of rifles, and people commented that they planned to attend the rally armed.
Organizers have not yet released route details.
A pro-Trump, pro-police rally in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center last weekend turned violent as hundreds of demonstrators, many armed, engaged in physical fights with anti-fascist counter demonstrators.
At that event, demonstrators shot paintball guns and sprayed bear mace at each other. Alan Swinney, a member of the Proud Boys — a group that frequently engages in violence at protests — brandished a firearm at protesters. Portland police took no action to break up the rally or keep the two sides separated.
“We’ve been deploying resources at night approaching 90 days, so we have our staffing kind of set for our night activities,” Portland police chief Chuck Lovell said in response to criticism over the bureau’s inaction.
At a Wednesday evening “all lives matter” protest in Gresham, city councilors and Gresham police stood between conservative demonstrators and the Black Lives Matter counter-protesters. That protest was mostly non-violent.
Portland police wouldn’t say if the bureau plans to take a different approach this Saturday compared to last weekend.
“The Police Bureau responds to calls for service on a priority basis, taking many factors into consideration,” Portland police Lieutenant Greg Pashley said in a written statement. “The Portland Police Bureau will work to manage events and calls for service throughout the city all day and night, every day as best we can with our limited resources.”
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