The Occupy Portland movement does not get a lot of coverage, because their relationship with the city, if not the police remains good. Yesterday they coordinated the efforts with occupy movements all over the west and closed down three terminals of the Port of Portland.
The Port of Portland shut down three of its four terminals on Monday after police arrested two people and seized weapons in the hours before a demonstration by the Anti-Wall Street movement.
In addition to terminals 5 and 6, which were closed earlier in the day, protesters marched on Terminal 4 early Monday evening, forcing officials to close it as well.
Security concerns were raised when police found the suspects in camouflage clothing with a gun, sword and walkie-talkies who said they were doing reconnaissance.
Police said one man in a car that was pulled over at about 2 a.m. had a loaded gun, identified by police as a Glock 40, in his possession. He also had gas masks.
Police identified the suspects as Jason Dean Barnes and Steven Liddicoat. Barnes was arrested on weapons charges and for driving while suspended. Liddicoat was arrested on an unrelated past warrant. The third person in the car was released at the scene.
Lt. Robert King with the Portland Police Bureau said the arrests of the men with weapons took place during a traffic stop and not at the protest site.
Kari Koch, a spokeswoman for Occupy Portland, said the two people taken into custody were not part of the demonstration.
"We do not send out folks with guns," Koch said… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <KATU>
Keith Olbermann covered "occupy the ports" and interviewed Kari on Countdown.
The quotes from Kari in the article indicate that she made them after her interview with Keith. She spoke with Keith when the demonstrators were on the way to terminal 4, and top the KATU reporter after they had closed down terminal four. She had no knowledge of the arrests when she talked to Keith, but later knew that they were not related to the demonstration. If not a false flag, they were independent troublemakers.
5 Responses to “Occupy Portland Closes Port”
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In order to impact the Goldman Sachs’ of the world that own these ports they have to be closed for more than a day or two. They have to be closed until there are 1000 ships at anchor that can not get in and that isn’t going to happen. First Amendment or not. Not dumping on the protest but really do you think your local dollar store is now going to run out of merchandise?
Sometimes a movement becomes counter productive I question the wisdom and timing of this—I am not convinced the timing is good , nor even the action– a movement such as this can so easily lose focus ,If I am wondering about this , I bet others also may be—Perhaps its time to back up a bit– a lot of points have been made , now I think it’s time to be calm and assess .:. Where From here ?
These guys that were arrested on weapons charges will claim they were working “security” for the protest. If the protest is non-violent, why would you need to have security? This is just a chance for some grown men to buy some cammo and play soldier for a day.
The gun “toters” were probably Homeland Security.
It seems most of the Occupy encampments are gone, and certainly, they are no longer news, unfortunately. I think this was bound to happen and protesters should have been planning for the next phase. In a post a while back, I talked of “Critical Mass”, a large group of cyclists that gather once a month and snarle up traffic on a friday afternoon commute. Maybe it is time to look at other possible actions that will keep the movement alive.
As in San Diego where truckers were taking a hit for the blockade of the port, protesters in other centres, including Vancouver were successful in blocking some port activity. In Vancouver, one of the organisers said they tried not to disrupt activity too much by having protests at mid day. Still some disruption will always happwn. Here are 3 short notws about thw Vancouver protest.
http://www.news1130.com/news/national/article/309323–occupy-vancouver-port-protest-fizzles-as-labour-federation-denounces-protest
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/309398–update-five-occupy-the-ports-protesters-arrested
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/309234–occupy-protesters-planning-action-at-metro-vancouver-ports