2017 Portland Rose Parade Cancelled Due To Threats

[esmith]

Well, it looks like things are getting ugly in the City of Roses. Seems a couple of groups have threatened to attack the parade due to the Multnomah County Republican Party participating

Organizers cancel 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade, after protesters threaten to shut it down
Portland rose parade canceled after ‘antifascists’ threaten GOP marchers

 

[columbus]

I sincerely hope that the cops can track these people down and prosecute them severely.
Prosecute them like terrorists. Because that's what they are, using violence and threats of more to get their way is terrorism.
Tom

 

[David T]

Well, it looks like things are getting ugly in the City of Roses. Seems a couple of groups have threatened to attack the parade due to the Multnomah County Republican Party participating

Organizers cancel 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade, after protesters threaten to shut it down
Portland rose parade canceled after ‘antifascists’ threaten GOP marchers

I expect someone will have to do a cover of the old buffalo springfield song soon. " hey children what's that sound , everybody look what's going down". How quickly we forget.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I guess fascists are blithely unaware of irony.

 

[Father Heathen]

You can't fight totalitarianism with totalitarian tactics (censorship, violent reprisal, etc.), because instead of defeating it, you're just replacing it with a form of your own.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

You can't fight totalitarianism with totalitarian tactics (censorship, violent reprisal, etc.), because instead of defeating it, you're just replacing it with a form of your own.

Seems to be more prevalent in "revolutions" based in hate and resentment, not on actual justice.

 

[Father Heathen]

Seems to be more prevalent in "revolutions" based in hate and resentment, not on actual justice.

I imagine that it's mostly those Che shirt wearing "anarchist" teenage types (who actually know very little to nothing about Che) who think causing damage to random property will trigger a sweeping cultural shift.

 

[Stevicus]

Apparently there's a bit more to the story. I found this article which suggests that there were some far-right agitators planning to attend as part of the "Republican Party," and this is what may have triggered the response.

82nd Avenue of Roses Parade Cancelled Amid Threats of Street Brawling

The alleged conspiracy? Someone—it's unclear who—received an anonymous email from "[email protected]" telling parade organizers that if they allowed "Trump supporters and 3% militia" to march, "we will have two hundred or more people rush into the parade into the middle and drag and push those people out as we will not give one inch to groups who espouse hatred toward lgbt, immigrants, people of color or others."



KATU erroneously inferred that "riseup" was a protest group. It is an email provider. The email, available here, did contained links however to two Facebook event pages—one from Direct Action Alliance, the other from Oregon Students Empowered—promising to disrupt the Republican float at the parade.

It concluded, "We promise there will be no harm to anyone but we will shut this down and prevent them from marching using nonviolent passive blocking of their movement."

A source close to the parade tells WW that the Republicans initially wanted to cancel their participation, but changed their minds and decided to confront protesters. In subsequent discussions with the city, the source said, the Portland Police Bureau made clear that it did not have the resources to provide extra security to the parade.


It's also clear that multiple groups had planned to converge at the annual family-focused event, including far-right agitators.

One of the organizers of an April 2 "Rally for Trump and Freedom" in Vancouver, Wash., which ended in a large brawl and police arrests of several anti-fascist ("antifa") protesters, announced his plans to crash the event yesterday.

The organizer, Joey Gibson, frequently posts online videos in which he rants about "free speech" while standing in front of his firearms and an American Revolutionary War flag.

"We've got a lot more people coming down now on Saturday because of the threats you guys are making," Gibson tells his antifa foils in an April 24 video, before making a threat of his own: "Saturday can be an awesome day or a horrible day. It could turn into a Berkeley, OK? I was in Berkeley. You don't want that, trust me. Just leave us alone, don't tread on us, no one gets hurt."

Update 5:35 pm: Jacob Bureros of the Direct Action Alliance sent the following statement to the press about the parade cancelation.

We are disappointed that the Avenue of Roses Parade has been cancelled. As members of this community, we prize our neighborhood events and support events that promote community.

Known members of neo-nazi and anti immigrant hate groups planned to attend the group that was being hosted by the Multnomah County Republicans at the parade. We intended to stand between them and those who they wanted to intimidate. We intended to block out their hate and shut down their violence.

They want to march in a family parade and normalize a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women; they want to march in our diverse community and normalize a man who wants to ban Muslims and build a wall between us and our neighbor, Mexico. They want to march as the Republican Party, but in their ranks are groups like the “Bible Believers”, who have already come to this neighborhood to intimidate a local Latinex church and who were filmed assaulting an injured activist on the ground in Berkeley last week and were also filmed attacking a woman at PDX in January.

 

[David1967]

I think they should call in as many police officers and possibly the National Guard (if needed) to protect these people and their parade.

 

[Spiderman]

Just give the terrorists what they want

 

[columbus]

I wonder if large unorganized groups like "Berkeley students" or "Portland residents" will grasp what they are being cheated out of by these people? Regardless of how you feel about this or that ideology, ideologues are ruining stuff for everyone.

Probably social pressures would be more effective than the cops.
Tom

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I thought there was some big social movement against bullying? Whatever happened to that?