Right-wing Patriot Prayer rally and counterprotest in Portland, Ore.
Small scuffles broke out Saturday as police in Portland, Ore., deployed “flash-bang” devices and other means to disperse hundreds of right-wing and self-described anti-fascist protesters.
Four people were arrested during the protests, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement Saturday night. Officers also seized “multiple weapons throughout the day,” police said.
A reporter for the Oregonian/OregonLive was bloodied when he was struck by a projectile. Eder Campuzano said later on Twitter he was “OK.”
Demonstrators aligned with Patriot Prayer and an affiliated group, the Proud Boys, gathered around midday in a riverfront park.
Hundreds of demonstrators faced them from across the street, holding banners and signs with opposition messages such as “Alt right scum not welcome in Portland.” Some chanted “Nazis go home.”
Officers stood in the middle of the four-lane boulevard, essentially forming a wall to keep the two sides separated.
The counterprotesters were made up of a coalition of labor union representatives, immigrant rights advocates, democratic socialists, and other groups. They included people dressed as clowns and a brass band blaring music.
The rally, organized by Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson, was the third to roil Portland this summer. Two previous events ended in bloody fistfights and riots, and one counterprotester was sent to the hospital with a skull fracture. (AP)
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