So I left the Portland protest about 50 minutes ago.
I went somewhat open-minded. I've read posts here, but I have enough friends that go to these who keep talking about how it's awesome and peaceful and the feds attack people for no reason that I wanted to see for myself.
I thought maybe I'd get tear gassed. Or maybe I'd see the feds attacking people for no reason. Or maybe I'd see the protestors setting fires and causing havoc. I also though there was a good chance I wouldn't see much of anything.
What I saw I didn't anticipate. It was a PARTY. It's a fucking street festival with people hanging out and chatting with their friends and socializing. Tents selling t-shirts and goods and presumably the rib shop somewhere in there.
I did see some people marching and hear some speakers, but the parks outside the courthouse felt like an anarchist summer festival. I had the sense beforehand that at least some of the people doing this are simply bored and wanted to get out of the house. That's basically confirmed for me now.
As a caveat, I didn't get very close to the real action, if there was any.
My boyfriend was with me, and he was initially supportive but became less and less so as we walked around. He's extremely concerned about transmitting coronavirus and didn't want to get any closer than we had to so we didn't get into the fray. I didn't see the wall of moms or vets or leaf blower dads, just the typical people you would expect to see at a Portland protest.
I also saw an alpaca, because of course there's an alpaca, it's Portland..
View attachment 1474561
Overall, I'm underwhelmed.
