By Rich Lowry
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
If only mobs were allowed to destroy federal property
without consequence.
Then, there wouldn’t have to be any dispute over federal
agents defending a federal courthouse in Portland, Ore. It could simply be
overrun and burned to the ground with no unwelcome resistance.
As it is, Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, who presides
over a city that has become a watchword over the years for left-wing thuggery
unchecked by municipal authorities, has roused himself to state of high dudgeon
— over federal officers trying to counter ongoing assaults on a federal
building.
He calls the feds “a direct threat to our democracy” and
argues that they are engaging in unconstitutional arrests and inflaming
protests that he had hoped “would end within a matter of days.”
Oregon senator Ron Wyden had this coolheaded take on the
president and his acting secretary of Homeland Security: “Now Trump and Chad
Wolf are weaponizing the DHS as their own occupying army to provoke violence on
the streets of my hometown because they think it plays well with right-wing media.”
If Portland was on the verge of calm prior to the arrival
of the feds in force, it would have been the first time since the killing of
George Floyd.
Protests have taken place every day since May 28. A few
headlines of a timeline from the website of a local TV station KOIN.com: For
May 29: “Massive vigil in North Portland leads to declared riot downtown.” For
May 30: “Curfew imposed — and ignored.” For June 30: “Police union building
protest: Another riot was declared by police.”
Although the federal courthouse has done nothing to
provoke protesters and has been standing at the same spot since 1997, it has
been a constant target. Protesters have smashed its glass doors, covered its
exterior with graffiti, and repeatedly attempted to light it on fire. This has
been happening since at least early July.
True to form, protesters over the weekend took down
fencing and lit a fire at the building’s entryway. As a statement from the
Portland police put it, “dozens of people with shields, helmets, gas masks, umbrellas,
bats, and hockey sticks approached the doors” of the courthouse — but surely it
was just a misunderstanding that led the federal officers to believe they had
to repulse them with tear gas.
This isn’t hard: It is the people attacking federal
property who bear moral responsibility for what’s happening in Portland. In all
the cities around the country where nihilistic mobs aren’t trying to
burn down symbols of our justice system, there’s no enhanced presence of
federal officers.
The feds haven’t been wearing badges with their names and
have been using unmarked cars — for fear of retaliation against the officers
involved and mob actions against vehicles. Both are unquestionably legal
tactics. According to DHS, the officers are wearing the insignias of their
agencies and unique identifiers; they are arresting only people suspected of
involvement of attacks on federal property; and they are identifying themselves
to arrestees, although not to crowds.
Perhaps these officers should be more clearly identified,
but there’s no case whatsoever for calling them, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
has, “stormtroopers” who are “kidnapping protesters.” The arrest of a man named
Mark Pettibone has gotten a lot of press attention. He says he did nothing
wrong and was arrested by federal agents, who took him to the federal
courthouse and read him his Miranda rights, before releasing him.
He wasn’t detained indefinitely, or disappeared, or
harmed in any way, but apparently arrested in error and then allowed to go on
his way.
It would be one thing if municipal authorities in Portland could legitimately claim that they have things under control. They don’t. The mobs have been clashing with the local cops for months. This longstanding riot is a stark commentary on the misgovernance of Mayor Wheeler, who is better at insulting federal law enforcement than doing his job.
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