The difference between police treatment of a Proud Boys rally yesterday vs their response to a protest last night against police brutality could not be more stark https://twitter.com/_whatriot/status/1310115121012727811

This picture, where police trumpet their seizure of a couple of worn out weapons from antifacist protesters, is pretty ridiculous considering the advanced weaponry they ignored at the Proud Boys rally https://twitter.com/multcoso/status/1310142627598090242

I saw extensive friendly coordination yesterday between police and national leaders of the Proud Boys. Here’s that story: https://www.courthousenews.com/proud-boys-rally-in-portland/amp/

Highlights: Proud Boy Chairman Enrique Tarrio was in charge of coordinating with local police, while event organizer Joe Biggs was responsible for communicating with the feds

Police said on social media that they stopped two cars leaving the Proud Boys rally that didn’t have license plates. But PB leadership told followers to remove plates. State police let leadership drive by in a truck w/o plates, as they ticketed the truck they tweeted about

This one. I was in the truck with PB leaders as we drove by: https://twitter.com/orstatepolice/status/1309974114405244928

And that was moments after this exchange, between the driver of the truck I was in and @PortlandPolice
“When are y’all taking the patches off and just gonna fuck these motherfuckers up together?” the driver asked, referring to local antifascists. The officers grinned and laughed.

In the truck’s passenger seat was a Proud Boy who wouldn’t share his name. He held a can of bear spray ready to use on passersby, the safety pin removed.
“I didn’t get to spray anyone today,” he complained. He put the pin back in the can as the truck neared the police checkpoint.

Here we are in that truck yesterday morning, headed into Delta Park before the rally

Then there was the armed checkpoint set up by out-of-state militia members in support of the Proud Boys. Y’all, we just went through this https://twitter.com/multcoso/status/1306762825147101186

Militia men at the checkpoint leading into Delta Park said they were there to repel “antifa.” They stopped journalists and questioning them before allowing them to enter the park. But police didn’t seem concerned. They drove by periodically with a wave or a peace sign.

Standing on the park’s perimeter, Jim McMurray, a sergeant with the Portland Police Bureau, said cops were unlikely to intervene.
“They’ll police themselves,” McMurray said of the crowd of several hundred Proud Boys and their supporters.

I’ll leave you with something Biggs told me: “We’ve talked to state and federal law enforcement for every event we do. The feds say, ‘you’re the only group out there that’s willing to sit down and tell us stuff.’ They know every move we do before we do it because we tell them.”