Police use pepper spray; make one arrest
Demonstrators near Holladay Park in northeast Portland Saturday during a ‘Solidarity against Austerity’ march. (KOIN-TV photo)
Occupy Portland and other groups held an “anti-austerity march” near Holladay Park in northeast Portland Saturday, where roughly 300 people rallied against funding cuts to social and public services.
The event was mostly peaceful, but ended in one arrest and several people pepper-sprayed by officers.
Police tried to stop protestors from turning northbound onto Northeast 14th Street in the Lloyd district. When protestors marched forward with wooden-board signs, a police bike brigade pushed back.
As protestors broke through the line, a few officers stumbled off their bikes.
Officers deployed pepper-spray to front line demonstrators and seized their “ramming devices and shields,” police said. Demonstrators then backed up and walked eastbound on Halsey Street.
One man, 44-year-old Johnny Christopher Wells, was arrested for running away with a police bicycle and swinging it at officers as they caught up to him.
Demonstrators continued to march around the Lloyd Center and the march ended at Holladay Park.
Portland police say they attempted to contact protest organizers prior the event seeking details and a permit for the demonstration, but the groups did not respond, later arguing that a permit should not be required to express political dissent.
