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Antifa violence interrupts GOP rally, understaffed Portland police nowhere to be found

May 2, 2022 | | Print Article

A woefully strapped Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reportedly couldn’t get to the scene of an Antifa attack on GOP rallygoers Saturday before the violent masked bandits dispersed, despite the close proximity of the incident to Portland police headquarters.

The black-clad agitators descended upon a campaign event held near Southwest 3rd and Main Street in support of Sandy Mayor and Oregon gubernatorial candidate Stan Pulliam, who is running on a platform that includes refunding the struggling police.

After lobbing smoke grenades, paint-filled balloons, and fireworks into the Republican crowd, leaving two victims injured by “mortars,” the militant group dispersed before the PPB could establish a crime scene, Fox News reports.

“This is what happens when a Republican dares to hold an event in Portland to talk about funding our police,” Pulliam tweeted. “Well, we won’t be intimidated and stop speaking the truth.”

As American Wire reported Sunday, the PPB is so short-staffed amid a staggering surge in Portland homicides, it was forced to close its cold case unit and reassign a sergeant and six detectives to a third homicide detail.

On Saturday, the same day as the Pulliam rally, the PPB released a tweet informing citizens that its resources were strained “by an extraordinarily busy evening of significant events,” including a reckless driver careening around the city in a stolen ambulance and multiple shootings.

“As a result of the extremely heavy call load and series of significant events, all three precincts were placed on high priority (life safety) calls only for various times most of the night,” the statement read.

Following the incident, Pulliam told the media that the chaos he and his supporters experienced is what “neighbors throughout the Portland community have to experience on almost a daily basis.”

“We called the police, we called 911,” Pulliam said. “In fact, at the Justice of Peace Center, we were just outside of their headquarters, sat on hold for over 20 minutes. No police officers ever arrive until the very end, just to take our statement.”

 

Pulliam noted that, in the 1970s, Portland boasted 30 police officers per 100,000 citizens — a ratio that has dropped to just eight per 100,000.

“And then we wonder why we have all the violence and destruction happening on our streets,” Pulliam said.

In a statement released after the attack, the PPB admitted there “were only a few officers available at the precinct” when they were notified “of a group throwing items such [as] a smoke grenade at another group in the area of Southwest 3rd Avenue and Southwest Main Street.”

“A PPB Sergeant began monitoring the situation and gathering available resources, although there were only a few officers available in the precinct,” the statement reads. “Updated information was that paint and larger fireworks were being thrown, and significant explosions were heard in the area.”

“The sergeant requested the callers try to drive away to meet officers at another location in an attempt to deescalate the situation and allow officers to investigate,” according to the statement.

In a follow-up tweet, Pulliam said it was “no surprise” that the “underfunded police didn’t show in time to allow our free speech.”

“As our new governor,” Pulliam vowed following the incident, “I’ll put these punks in jail.”

Melissa Fine
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