Hi there, I'm at Woodstock Park with a small but growing group of protesters. Let's see what tonight has in store

#PortlandProtest #PortlandRiots #PDXprotests #BlackLivesMatter #PoliceViolence #ACAB

Maybe 100 people here now, more coming all the time. I have a brief conversation with @hungrybowtie about soup. As you do

Strains of "Guillotine" by the Coup on the breeze

I keep reaching for my press pass: talisman against harm. With the State Police deputized as federal agents, it's a talisman whose time has come and gone

I've got IV plates and a good helmet: far more useful things tonight

A debate about tonight's action ensues. It's unclear what's going to happen tonight, and I'll refrain from commenting until the protest figures it out and does it

Ok one comment: seems like decisions aren't going super smoothly tonight. Someone is very committed to a specific option that's proving unpopular

Fast horizontal decision-making ultimately requires total buy-in

A helicopter drones overhead

A very clear consensus emerges. Two people from the Portland Protest Bureau do everything in their power to overturn this consensus. "The people of color are going to _____!!"

I'm not sure the only people of color here are the ones involved with the Portland Protest Bureau

Update: people still arguing

I've noticed that the Portland Protest Bureau tends to assert itself when the national eye is on us and there's a lot of pressure on officials to get things under control

It's just an observation

"We've made a decision! We're going to [non-consensus location]! If you don't want to go, you don't have to! We're anarchists, were autonomous!!"

I'm sorry, I laughed for like 2 minutes, really loud, please forgive me

This is a shit show

"hello well-intentioned anarchists! Sometimes part of direct action is being flexible about your plans! And that's 99% of the time! We cannot get a consensus right now with so many people. If you don't want to go, go home!"

I would like to reiterate that a consensus WAS reached

Let's spend the evening reading basic anarchist theory, maybe that's what we should do

I am excruciatingly ill-informed on theory and even I know this is ridiculous

The journalists discuss what to do. Here are our ideas:

-press-only rally at Kate Brown's house where we chant our questions
-Drink in the park
-Be petty and refuse to go cuz we think it's silly

Unfortunately, as we learned earlier, consensus is impossible

The new plan is for me to tweet that I heard the protest is going to a bar and that everyone should go there and then we'll be at a bar and no one will ever know I influenced events oh shit I fucked this up didn't I

The location of the bar will be decided by consensus by the one anarchist here

Wow this is just a shitpost thread now I'm so sorry

Ok. Ok. So basically the crowd has split. A lot of people have left for home. Others have left for Alberta Park. Most people are still here, chilling and bitching

The night has fallen apart completely

Update: the press corp has decided to order pizza and chill in this park, yes really