Portland, Oregon – Portland Police are preparing for May Day protests. There have been some violent demonstrations on this day in Portland in the past. The protests are scheduled to start around Noon and end around 6pm. Expect to see protesters in the South Waterfront area downtown, and at Holladay Park in Northeast Portland. Portland State University is considering banning cars from the heart of its urban campus. Beginning at noon, traffic will be blocked on Southwest Montgomery between Broadway and 6th Avenue. The street will be open to anyone walking or biking in that area. Portland Police say they have not issued any permits for any marches, and Chief Danielle Outlaw says with the increase of demonstrations, comes an increase in police presence.It was two years ago when a May Day March turned in to a riot, with people throwing rocks bottles and fireworks, and 25 people were arrested.

May Day is International Worker’s Day. It’s like Labor Day all around the world, except here in the United States. Our Labor Day holiday, that celebrates and honors the every day worker who makes the world go round, is in September.

Read more from Portland Police Bureau

The Portland Police Bureau would like to inform the public there are multiple demonstrations planned throughout Portland on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Demonstration activity is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:00 p.m. and concluding at approximately 6:00 p.m. At this time, there are no known plans or permits for street marches associated to any of the events.

Events are being held in the South Waterfront area, Downtown and Holladay Park.

The intent of law enforcement during these and all demonstration events is to provide a safe environment for all participants, non-participants, and community members, while ensuring the peaceful exercise of the First Amendment. To this end, there will be a law enforcement presence in the area of the demonstrations, as needed, to keep the peace. Persons attending any of the events should not bring any weapons or items that can be used as weapons to any of the events.

The Portland Police Bureau has produced a video in collaboration with some of our partners related to free speech and assembly events. This video can be found at this link: https://youtu.be/JViQB2zcoIc

PPB wants to remind the public of the following Portland City Codes and Federal regulations concerning Federal Property:

*The City of Portland has specific conduct rules and laws that apply to parks: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/citycode/?c=28627 including a specific prohibition on the possession of weapons in parks: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/citycode/article/641629

* There also are specific conduct rules and laws that apply to Federal facilities and properties, such as Terry Schrunk Plaza. Rules and laws related to Federal property may be located at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title41-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title41-vol3-part102-id987.pdf and https://www.dhs.gov/fps-visitors

Incidents that threaten life, safety or property will be investigated thoroughly. People who participate in illegal behavior, including acts of physical violence, may be subject to immediate arrest or citation on Saturday, or at a later time after additional investigation.

The Police Bureau attempts to work with all event organizers to establish an environment where community members may safely practice their First Amendment Rights of speech and assembly. The Police Bureau Liaison Team is available to assist event organizers in planning a safe event for participants, Portland community members, and businesses. Liaison Officers may be contacted at: [email protected] or through its Twitter account: @PPBLiaison

The Police Bureau encourages:

* Event organizers to communicate with liaison officers so the Police Bureau is aware of the needs and intentions of the groups represented by the respective organizers;
* People who observe suspicious items or activity or are aware of incidents that place a person’s life, safety or property in danger should contact police in person or by calling 9-1-1 if you can; text 9-1-1 if you can’t. Texts to 9-1-1 cannot include emoticons, emoji’s, pictures, or videos;
* People near others who are preparing to or in the act of committing criminal behavior are encouraged to separate themselves from the group and notify police; and
* Listen to and adhere to directions provided by the Police Bureau’s public address vehicle. The announcements provide important information about officers’ observations, what actions demonstrators and counter-demonstrators must take and what action the Police Bureau may take.

Although there are no known plans or permits issued for street marches associated with any of the known events, the Portland Police Bureau encourages road users to be aware of the potential for traffic interruptions should a spontaneous march develop during the day. People engaged in demonstration march activity should remain on sidewalks and obey traffic laws.

The Police Bureau reminds community members that demonstrations generally do not require any permit from the City of Portland; however, any event held in a street and/or sidewalk, such as runs, walks, marches, parades or bicycle races or City parks must have a permit granted by the City of Portland. Additionally, event organizers are encouraged to work with the City of Portland to ensure a safe event for participants and non-participants.

To learn more about the permitting process or to file a request for a road use permit, please visit the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Special Events page at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/?c=29979 for Parks Bureau permits, please visit https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/38280

The Portland Police Bureau intends to share pertinent information with the community on the day of the events through its main Twitter account: @PortlandPolice

The Portland Police Bureau’s Directive, 0635.10 Crowd Management/Crowd Control can be found at: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/article/649358

Anyone with information about criminal behavior being planned prior to this event, or observes criminal behavior during this event, or learns of it after this event, is asked to share it by email to [email protected].

 

Here’s what some local protester organizers are saying:

 

May Day call to #BlocktheWall in Portland, Oregon. To see a roundup of events and actions happening across so-called North American, go here.

On June 17th, 2018, there was a rally against ICE’s practices of indefinite family separation and detention held next to Portland’s ICE facility. After the rally, about a dozen activists lingered in the ICE facility driveway, until one of them got up and shared the idea of staging a continuous vigil and occupation at the building, everyone set a time to come back to the building with sleeping bags and not much else, we had about 5-7 activists sleeping on the concrete that night, and before we knew it our occupation had turned into full on mass movement that sparked occupations around the country, and shut down our local facility for 2 weeks.

The goal of last years occupation, and the current goal of our collective is to fully stop ICE operations in Portland, you might think it would be easy to get a so-called “progressive” mayor and city council like our own to actually put in some effort to end the operations of a organization that as I’m typing is terrorizing refugees and migrant families in Portland, but sadly that isn’t the case, many anti-ICE activists like ourselves have gotten lots of support from members of the Portland City Council, backed up with zero action, that’s why we’re once again calling on the the people of Portland who stand against this modern gestapo like agency that we call the Immigration And Customs Enforcement, to demand that the Portland City Council takes action to end all I.C.E operations in our city.

On May 1st, we #BlockTheWall!

#OccupyICEPDX and other grassroots organizations are calling all anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-capitalist and allies to join us in taking to the streets to oppose the inhumane detention of the migrant community, separation of families and to #BlockTheWall.

There has been a national call to action by the #BlockTheWall network:

“Disrupt the operation of detention centers in your community. Adults are imprisoned in over 200 centers across the US. There are also over 100 “shelters” holding children captive, often in residential neighborhoods, and often unlabeled. Find a center near you and fight for its closure, hold solidarity demos outside, hold those who profit from this machine accountable. Together we can show that migrants are welcomed.”

The protest will start at 1pm, at Elizabeth Caruthers Park, we’ll be standing alongside Portland student activists who have planned to walkout of class and join us, along with various local activist and community organizations, we believe it’s time for the Rose City to yet again make it clear that we have no tolerance for an agency that’s only agenda is to tear apart asylum seeking families, if you believe that too, then we want you to take this stand with us.

#BlockTheWall #AbolishICE #OccupyICEPDX

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