The rebellion has begun...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/portland-protests.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Federal Officers In Portland Face Rising Opposition On Streets and In Court
Rather than tamping down persistent protests in Portland, Ore., a militarized presence from federal officers seems to have re-energized them.
PORTLAND, Ore. — An aggressive federal campaign to suppress unrest in Portland appears to have instead rejuvenated the city’s movement, as protesters gathered by the hundreds late Friday and into Saturday morning — the largest crowd in weeks.
Federal officers at times flooded street corridors with tear gas and shot projectiles from paintball guns, while demonstrators responded by shouting that the officers in fatigues were “terrorists” and chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets.”
A court ruling has largely prohibited local police from using tear gas during the recent protests, which have played out for more than 50 consecutive nights in Portland.
While the protesters have repeatedly decried the city’s own police tactics, Mayor Ted Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner, and other leaders have united in calls for federal agencies to stay away. City commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty went to join protesters gathered outside the county Justice Center downtown, saying the city will “not allow armed military forces to attack our people.”
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While officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have described the stepped-up involvement of federal officers as part of an effort to oppose lawlessness in the city, state and local leaders on Friday contended that the federal officers themselves may be violating the law.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the injury of one protester, who appeared to have been shot in the head with a less-lethal weapon outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has filed a lawsuit, accusing federal officers of unlawful tactics in how they went about detaining people by pulling them into unmarked vans.
The pushback against the militarized federal deployment involving officers in fatigues and tactical gear has also extended to the streets, where the presence of those federal agents has rejuvenated a movement that had shown signs of finally slowing down after weeks of protest against police violence and militarization.
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Emphasis mine.
I'll add that the fact that extrajudicial kidnappings by federal thugs answering directly to William Barr (Dept. of Justice hack) are stoking
more unrest in the streets, rather than less, is a feature, not a bug. Trump wants some pretext to establish martial law on cities throughout the land, perhaps in hopes of preventing them from voting in November. Who knows what manner of sick theater plays out in his dark, tiny mind as he cowers in his bunker.
All the same, this is going to backfire on Trump and his henchmen, just like his heavy-handed approach to the June Black Lives Matter protests backfired.