Protesters in Portland. AP.
Chaos in Portland Oregon as Antifa fights Proud Boys in the streets. ABC News. Three rallies had been planned for Saturday but when the groups met there was violence. It is unclear how many people were injured or how many arrests were made. A journalist for Quillette, Andy Ngo, was attacked by the group and had to be hospitalized. He was robbed, egged and "milkshaked" but the milkshake contained quicklime or quick drying cement which resulted in chemical burns. Police were also attacked as well.
My Comment:
I have to be careful what I say when the subject of antifa comes up. I have gotten in trouble with adsense for posting videos that show how violent they are and criticizing them. Video of this incident is widely available so if you want to see it you can look it up.
This seems like a situation made worse by the police response. Portland's government is notoriously lax when it comes to confronting antifa and more should have been done to prevent them and the Proud Boys from coming into contact with each other.
Though I am obviously not a fan of antifa I don't think what the Proud Boys are doing is productive either. It seems likely they were there to pick a fight and though doing so might make for compelling video it doesn't really help things. Antifa's popularity drops when they attack cops and destroy businesses, not when they are fighting in the streets.
As for the attack on journalist Andy Ngo, it's fairly horrible. Ngo got pretty severely injured and seems to have suffered chemical burns from getting milkshaked. He was also robbed and beaten as well. I am guessing antifa figured out who he was and who he wrote for and decided to beat him up (Quillette is a right wing outlet). For all the complaints about the right threatening journalists I can't remember any incidents as severe as what antifa did here.
The incident also shows why "milkshaking" should be taken seriously. The media has essentially treated it as a joke and as far as assaults go it's more annoying than anything. But this case proves that if you are close enough to hit someone with a milkshake you are close enough to severely harm them. Plus they could do what these people did and line a seemingly harmless milkshake with caustic or acidic chemicals and burn people.
The good news is that antifa has lost much of their relevance, along with Black Lives Matter. Once President Trump got elected the rate of attacks and riots have essentially dropped to zero. I'm not sure why that is as you would think that they would have more to protest now but my guess is a lot of their funding got cut off after the election.
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