At least one arrest has been made at a tense free speech rally in Portland, where alt-right and anti-fascist groups were expected to square off one week after two men were stabbed to death when they intervened in a hate-filled attack on two Muslim women.
The circumstances surrounding the arrest, which you can watch above on video captured by Heavy, aren’t yet clear, but the Portland Police Bureau have been on edge throughout Sunday while trying to keep the two sides separate.
Projectiles being thrown at opposing groups or police will result in police action, including impact weapons or chemical munitions.
Portland Police say that they have made multiple arrests, and confiscated dozens of weapons and instruments that could be harmful to those in the city.
Officers have made an arrest and seized several weapons from the suspect.
Alt-right groups are rallying in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday for a prayer with YouTube personality Joey Gibson alongside Kyle Chapman, aka Based Stickman, and other pro-Trump speakers.
The groups took to what they called in their Facebook event “one of the most liberal areas on the West Coast” to exercise their free speech with music and flag-waving all in support of President Donald Trump.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, tried to block the event and took to twitter saying, “I have confirmed that the city of Portland has NOT and will not issue any permits for the alt-right events scheduled on June 4th or June 10th.”
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“There’s people who seriously believe that we’re all about white supremacy,” Gibson said on YouTube for the channel The Common Sense Conservative. “If we keep our distance from them, if we don’t talk to them, if we don’t have dialogue then they’ll believe the lie they’ll believe that.”
One in attendance was Based Stickman, known for his history of violent confrontations, who took to the stage promote his message for the president.
The rally was faced with anti-fascists, also known as ANTIFA, against the rally and they have already had previous confrontations with Based Stickman.
This rally comes over a week after Jeremy Christian, 35, slit the throats of men who were trying to stop him from abusing two Muslim women in Portland. This attack took place on a MAX light-rail train as it pulled into the Hollywood Transit Center on the afternoon of May 27.
On May 7 Christian let his politics known to the public:
According to online records, Christian is being held without bail at the Multnomah County Detention Center. He’s facing charges of aggravated murder and attempted murder.
Even before this murder, protests took to streets of Portland and Olympia to protest the actions of President Trump, but soon turned into riots on May 1.
Portland police arrested more than two dozen people near Pioneer Square after a protest permit had been canceled “due to actions of anarchists,” according to the AP. Police say the protesters destroyed a police car, set several fires in the street, damaged storefront windows and attacked police officers.