A Portland march against police brutality on Friday, October 22nd drew between 150 and 200 people. Witnesses say that people at the near-spontaneous event were mostly young, mostly white folks who were either angered by the police actions on October 15th or just wanted to be a part of the National Day of Protest against police brutality. According to the October 23 Oregonian, the four-mile-plus march from Northeast Precinct to the Justice Center downtown took an hour and a half (by comparison, the Oct. 24 march last year was only about 2.5 miles and took about the same amount of time).
One of the more telling features of the event is that a few people who wrote Mayor Katz to complain about the action on the 15th received the same letter from her, noting the absence of police violence on the 22nd. Since Katz herself was either safe at home in NW Portland or barricaded in her office (where she usually is during protests), she most likely wanted to make this point to underscore police "restraint." This leads us to believe that Katz ordered the cops to back off unless they were provoked. Although police did block off the Burnside Bridge and force marchers to cross over the Hawthorne, people who attended the march tell Copwatch that the only undue harassment came after the protest had dispersed. A few young people hanging out on the bus mall got questioned about an unrelated incident on Oct. 14.
The national October 22nd Coalition listed marches and other activities planned in 50 cities and towns around the U.S. that day. Copwatch's efforts in solidarity with the national action consisted of participating in a vigil in memory of Dickie Dow on Oct. 20 (see story)
Article on police violence at Mumia march
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