Right-Wing And Left-Wing Groups Gather In Portland, Oregon, For Protests And Counter-Protests; Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler Interviewed On Political Protests And Possible Violence In Portland
WHITFIELD: Portland, Oregon, is bracing for a potentially violent afternoon as protests by far-right extremist groups are expected to be met by counter-protests organized by the far left extremist group. The city's mayor sent out there message warning residents and visitors.</s>MAYOR TED WHEELER, PORTLAND, OREGON: This is Mayor Ted Wheeler. Thank you for contacting my office. If you are contacting our office regarding the August 17th protests, please note that we've prepared accordingly. If this is an emergency, please dial 911. If this is a related incident but not an emergency, please dial the Portland police non-emergency line at 503-823-3333. We encourage those of you who are visiting downtown Portland during this time to be aware of your surroundings. We've learned that large groups will gather in Waterfront Park at 11:00 a.m. In past demonstrations, various groups have taken to the streets in the core of downtown. We recommend for your safety to move away from these groups, inside a location if possible, as a precaution if you find yourself near demonstrators. Please visit our website and PPB's website for additional details. We are committed to ensuring that all visitors and residents in our city are safe. I've directed the Portland Police Bureau to use appropriate means to ensure a safe environment. Thank you again for calling, and have a safe weekend.</s>WHITFIELD: Quite the recording coming from the city's mayor. Meantime, President Trump also weighing in and threatening to label Antifa, the anti-fascist group, as, quote, "an organization of terror and saying," and saying, quote, "Hopefully the mayor will be able to properly do his job," end quote. But the president said nothing about the far right extremists also rallying. Portland has been the scene for several violent protests, including one in June where three people were arrested and eight people injured, including a right-wing blogger who was attacked. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler joining me on the phone. So Mr. Mayor, we heard your recording. So you are sending out a big warning to avoid the Portland area because of these potential clashes of these two groups. Describe your concern right now as they gather.</s>MAYOR TED WHEELER, PORTLAND, OREGON: Right now the situation is potentially volatile. We have groups gathering on both sides of the river. We have through the Portland Police Bureau and other law enforcement agencies seized some weapons. But right now, things are pretty calm.</s>WHITFIELD: So when you say they are on both sides of the river, is it the intention to try to keep these opposing groups geographically separated?</s>WHEELER: Well, operationally, the law enforcement partners engaged in this will certainly do their level best to keep separation as much as possible. But here's the bottom line. We've prepared for this for weeks. We have law enforcement partners at the state, regional, and local level who are all working together. They've trained for this. They've been collaborating and sharing information for a number of weeks. Our community has been unified. Business, government, labor, civil right leaders, others have all come together. And we've said, look, Portland's a great place, it's a beautiful place, but we don't want people to come here to commit acts of violence. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's still early in the day here on the west coast. But I know that our law enforcement partners, they're out there, they're communicating with people, they're talking to people, and they're maintaining an active, visible presence. And that seems so far to be keeping the lid on any potential skirmishes.</s>WHITFIELD: And so I understand that you've got 1,000 officers, really your entire Portland police force on duty. You've got state patrol there, and then you also referenced national, so you've got FBI there, as well.</s>WHEELER: Correct.</s>WHITFIELD: This protest or demonstration was initially one that applied for a permit, the permit that was not given by the city, correct? So how did it get to this level that you've got these groups gathering? And is it the case that it was the far left group that applied for the permit, or is it the far right group?</s>WHEELER: No. There have been no permits applied for by any of the participants today. And that was as of last night. I didn't check this morning, but it's my understanding that nobody applied for a permit. Regardless, the name of the game here is to make sure that the police and their associates work hard to maintain the order, make sure people remain safe, make sure that people have the right to assembly and express their opinions. But we're going to make sure that nobody engages in any acts of violence or vandalism. If anybody violates the law, there will be consequences. We're here to enforce the law.</s>WHITFIELD: And what do you attribute to this kind of turnout, because just looking at the images, this is sizable. It's difficult to determine who represents what from the kind of vantage point view that we're looking at, but dozens if not hundreds of people, and it certainly has precipitated a number of downtown stores to close up shop, as well. How did it get this big?</s>WHEELER: Portland has been a flashpoint particularly for those on the far right, including some who I would characterize as white supremacists or white nationalists, neo-Nazis. They picked Portland because they know that Portland is largely a very progressive city, and they know that if they come here there is going to be a reaction, there's going to be a response. And that's what they're looking for. They're looking for conflict. They're hoping for media coverage. They hope that their message will get carried nationally and potentially globally. And that's part of the reason they picked Portland. But what I'd like the rest of the country to understand is we've actually had very few violent skirmishes in the city. We've had over 200 demonstrations in the last year, and very few of them have led to violence. But we're sending a clear and unified message that if you're coming to Portland to engage in acts of violence, number one, we don't want you here. But if you do come here, our law enforcement partners have the resources, they have the partnership, they have the tools, and they have the will to enforce the law and ensure the public safety.</s>WHITFIELD: Of course, as we look at images, we see a lot of people, and there's some movement in some corners of the screen. But again, we're not really sure what all of it means. We're trying to do some reporting on that. What about your views on how the president of the United States would weigh in via tweet, his vacationing in New Jersey and he would tweet that he would threaten to label Antifa, anti-fascist group, as an organization of terror, and then would say hopefully the mayor will be able to properly do his job? How do you interpret that?</s>WHEELER: Look, my job today is to be heads down and focused on maintaining the public safety here in Portland, Oregon. I'm focused on what's going on the ground here in my community. I'm not concerning myself with tweets coming out of Washington, D.C. And frankly, it's not helpful. This is a potentially dangerous and volatile situation. And adding to that noise doesn't do anything to support or help the efforts that are going on here in Portland. But I'm not going to concern myself with it. I'm focused on what's going on the ground here operationally in my city. That's my job.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. And then how do you keep tabs -- how are you able to get the best vantage point of how and what kind of activity is unfolding? Because when we just look at all the images, it looks like there are pockets of areas throughout Portland where people are gathering. But it's difficult to discern what the motivation is of any number of these people. How are you going to be able to keep tabs of what's happening, what's being said, what activity is unfolding?</s>WHEELER: Well, I'm not going to get into operational details. But I will tell you that we have a widespread law enforcement presence. We're keeping tabs of the situation across the city. And we're sharing information, and we're being very aggressive in terms of communicating with the public. So we have our bases covered.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland, Oregon, good luck. Thank you so much.</s>WHEELER: Thank you, I appreciate it.</s>WHITFIELD: I want to bring in Sara Sidner, who is monitoring the situation on the ground there in Portland. And Sara, kind of describe what you're seeing. And we're just looking at various vantage points of people gathering, milling around. But like the mayor just said, it's potentially volatile just by the fact that you've got all of these people there. But what's the objective, and what's the fear?</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. What makes it more volatile is that the person that organized this from the far right group, Proud Boys, was on Twitter, Joe Biggs, saying things like death to Antifa, and talking about get your guns, be ready, make sure you train. And so that is part of what ratcheted this up, because, of course, Antifa being the anti-fascists, they responded and are expected to respond. The whole reason for this whole thing was to try to get the government's attention. The far right wanting Antifa to be called a domestic terrorist organization. And the president chiming in certainly ratchets all of that up here in the city. I want to give you an idea of what the police are doing right now. Just so you know, Portland realized that because this could be a volatile, huge number of people coming, they brought in about 18 other agencies from across the state, including federal agencies, as well. But this is what they're doing right now. So you see the line of police here, a double line of officers who are trying to keep the two groups, or two sides, if you will, separated. You've got folks from the anti-fascist, you have folks from neighborhoods over here, you have people who do not in any way support the president, the more liberal side of folks on this side of the divide. If you look up, and our photographer Jim will sort of show you this is where the folks from the right came. They came over this bridge as the folks from the left were gathering. And then if you just swing the camera around, and we're a little bit far away, but we'll go a little bit closer, you will see lots of people with cameras from both sides. You will also see a large gathering, but not as large as the sort of liberal gathering of folks that are supportive of the right. We've already seen the Proud Boys here. And as I mentioned, Joe Biggs who is one of their -- one of their leaders, one of the people who helped organize this, had come out and said some things, Twitter took him off Twitter, Facebook suspended him from Facebook. But we also know that this isn't just a left-right violence issue. The president talking about Antifa being violent. It turns out that here in Portland that several of the right-wingers who were here back in May during a skirmish have been arrested and booked on riot charges, including one of the folks that encouraged hundreds of people to show up here. His name is Joey Gibson, and he basically has said, look, we're with Patriot Prayer. We want people to come out. But he is calling for nonviolent approach in this, though that is not what happened back in May when his group, Patriot Prayer, and some anti-fascist groups collided outside of a bar here. So it is interesting to note that while the president only talks about the leftist side, the Antifa side, there is a violent side of the right. And the city has made that clear by arresting some of the folks that were involved in a Mayday melee, if you will. Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: Right. And then you heard the mayor who described that many people that he identified to be in part the right groups, far right groups, are also white supremacists and extremists to that measure. So now we're also getting some reporting, Sara, that Portland police have seized bear spray, shields, poles from many of the groups that are at these rallies or protests. And I guess this is complicated, too, and so volatile because you've got so many different groups identifying with so many different points of view, some of whom are opposing. And then when you talk about weaponry like this that police say have already been seized, it's not just about fighting words but that this volatility has some potential for violence, as well.</s>SIDNER: That's right. There's always a potential for violence. I'm going to turn the camera back around because some of the announcements are being made to tell people to stay off of the streets that have been closed, stay off of the sidewalks that have been closed. And there are certainly folks on this side of the divide that would like to get to the folks on the other side. You're hearing that announcement from Portland police, again, telling people that the sidewalks are closed. And I do want to give you some idea. There is a reason why Portland is chosen time and time again. You heard the mayor talking about 200 protests, most of them have gone off without violence. But violence does happen. And violence has happened back in May, it happened in June with a conservative blogger being attacked. You see people trying to jump over the divide. Some are frustrated residents, others of them are members of the liberal groups and Antifa who would like to come over here and engage the right and tell them to go home. And there's always a fear of violence when the groups come together. But I do want to mention that this is not in a vacuum. There is a history here in Oregon. You know this very well, but this was the only whites-only state to join the union. And because of that, if you look back at the history of white nationalism, there was a sense that they would create a whites-only ethno-state here that they call Pacifica or Cascadia, they have different names for it. That wasn't just Oregon but much of the pacific northwest. That plays a role. That is why many of these groups that track hate groups are very concerned that this will be the largest gathering of far right or white nationalists since Charlottesville in 2017, and you remember what happened there. So the city is aware and cognizant of that, as well. And that is why there are so many police out here. There are not only police that you can see and very well identify as officers, but there are people who are here under cover. There are eyes all over this area where this was scheduled to happen. And so at this point, we have seen no violence. We just heard a lot of chanting, a lot of jeering. We've heard a lot of folks talking about not engaging with one another. But there's certainly an element here that this could turn into something that is far more problematic for the city of Portland and for those who came out here together to try and shout each other down, if you will, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, Sara Sidner, we'll keep checking with you there out of Portland. Thank you so much. And we're going to take a short break right now.