Hundreds Take To 2 Portland Bridges, March In Solidarity With Charlottesville

By Ericka Cruz Guevarra (OPB)
Portland, Oregon Aug. 18, 2017 10 p.m.

A woman carries a sign reading "If you are not outraged you are not paying attention" as she walks through a crowd of hundreds gathered at the Salmon Street Springs Fountain in Portland.

Portland's Resistance organizer Gregory McKelvey speaks to a crowd gathered at the Salmon Street Springs Fountain. He said the goal of the march was to counter President Donald Trump's response to the events in Charlottesville.

People gathered at the Salmon Street Springs Fountain in Portland begin their march in solidarity with the community of Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 18, 2017.

Hundreds of people overtake the Hawthorne Bridge chanting "Whose bridge? Our bridge!" in a march for solidarity with the community of Charlottesville. Traffic was stopped behind them.

A woman and child hold hands as they walk off of the Hawthorne Bridge with hundreds of others marching in solidarity with the community of Charlottesville. Many kids — and dogs — were in attendance.

Marchers cross the Hawthorne Bridge headed east before walking down Grand Avenue. They re-crossed the Morrison Bridge heading west.

Hundreds of people in Portland peacefully gathered and then marched across two Portland bridges Friday night in solidarity with the community of Charlottesville, Virginia. The rally and march followed last week's violent white supremacist rally that left one person dead and several others wounded.

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Marchers blocked off traffic as they moved through downtown Portland before moving onto the Hawthorne and then Morrison bridges. They carried signs reading, among other slogans, "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention."

Hours before the solidarity march, Sgt. Jeff Niiya with the Portland Police Bureau said the bureau planned to take a "sit back and monitor" approach to the rally, with a minimal presence.

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Niiya said the bureau was expecting a peaceful gathering. He said organizers chose not to obtain a permit. The permit would have prompted the bureau to block streets for marchers who blocked portions of downtown traffic before completely taking over the two bridges.

Related: Portland Woman Attacked Day Before Fatal MAX Stabbings Says Police, TriMet Failed Her

Guest speakers, most of them people of color, spoke to a crowd of mostly white people about Portland's own long, complicated history with racism, including a deadly TriMet train stabbing that happened earlier this year. Police say Jeremy Christian, a self-described neo-Nazi, stabbed three people while riding the MAX, killing two of them.

The rally and march were organized by the activist group Portland's Resistance.

Organizer Gregory McKelvey said the goal was to show solidarity with Charlottesville, stand up for the community and counter President Donald Trump's response to last weekend's events. He also said that organizers hoped to have a protest in the "least disruptive way possible."

He urged crowd members to stand up for each other.

"You should treat everyone standing up against fascism in your area as the next Heather Heyer," McKelvey said. Heyer, 32, was killed in an attack on counter-protesters after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. "Don’t wait until they’re dead," McKelvey said.

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