anarchist smash-up
We took to the streets yet again last night (4/26). This was an anarchist police abolition march, which meant no reformist chants and no holding back.
Police believe these actions are the responsibility of anarchists in the area that also protested and vandalized businesses several weeks ago in downtown Portland. The Portland Police Bureau is preparing for similar acts throughout the week leading up to May 1.
The quote of the night comes from the anarchist communique. The author has just described attacking a recruiting center and three bank branches, and now concludes:
To end this laundry list, we smashed a Starbucks. We smashed it because fuck you, you fucking capitalist bastards, that’s why.
There’s been a big increase in anarchist street actions in Portland lately. There was what seemed like a fairly spontaneous smash-up the night of the latest police shooting, followed by a march a few days later that tied up parts of downtown and resulted in some mayhem, some blood and some arrests.
I wonder if people in other towns are seeing a similar uptick. The national climate seems to encourage it- if it’s not terrorism for some guy to crash his airplane into an IRS office, who’s going to quibble about a few bank windows? But Portland’s got some local stuff going on too, mostly about police shootings and the like.
Anyway, looks like the May Day parade should be interesting. Whatever happens, my alibi is that I’ll be playing D&D, and I’m sticking to my story.
I can’t tell what’s going on in this video, but whatever. Watch it anyway.
