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Portland Police Struggle to Respond to Antifa Attack on GOP Rally

On Saturday, attendees of a Republican rally in Portland, Oregon were assaulted by black-clad assailants presumably belonging to the far-left domestic terrorist group Antifa. But the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) took over 20 minutes to respond to the scene.

Fox News reports that rallygoers, who were showing their support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Stan Pulliam, were bombarded by objects thrown by the attackers, including smoke grenades, fireworks, and balloons filled with paint. By the time the police had “sufficient resources” to secure the crime scene, the culprits had already fled the area. At least two of the victims were injured by what the police described as “mortars.”

The event for Pulliam, the mayor of Sandy, was cut short by the violence. The candidate later posted footage online of the attack, saying that “this is what happens when a Republican dares to hold an event in Portland to talk about funding our police. Antifa shows up.” Part of Pulliam’s campaign platform is to restore funding to the police that was stripped by the current Democratic government of the state of Oregon.

But, Pulliam added, the violence that he and his supporters experienced Saturday was something that “neighbors throughout the Portland community have to experience on almost a daily basis.”

“We called the police, we called 911,” he explained. “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.”

Currently, Portland has approximately eight police officers for every 100,000 residents in the city. Pulliam noted that in the 1970s, the city had at least 30 officers per 100,000.

The PPB later released a statement confirming that they were unable to respond immediately since there “were only a few officers available in the precinct.” The statement also noted that the previous night had seen an unusual spike in violent crime throughout the city which had strained their resources, including five shootings, three crashes, and a stolen ambulance; all crimes took place within the same span of about 12 hours.

The incident reflects the lingering aftermath of the “Defund the police” movement, a far-left campaign that began amidst the violent race riots of 2020. As domestic terror groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter burned cities to the ground across the country, politicians and activists who supported these groups continually blamed police departments, claiming that they needed to be defunded, or even disbanded, due to alleged “systemic racism” and “police brutality.” Portland has remained one of the epicenters of these far-left movements, and as such saw one of the most serious efforts to defund the police in recent years; as a result, Antifa has continued to terrorize civilians on an almost daily basis with almost no repercussions.

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About Eric Lendrum

Eric Lendrum graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the Secretary of the College Republicans and the founding chairman of the school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. He has interned for Young America’s Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, and the White House, and has worked for numerous campaigns including the 2018 re-election of Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-22). He is currently a co-host of The Right Take podcast.

Photo: (Photo by John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)