Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s latest call for police and fellow Portlanders to aggressively crack down on a small group of destructive demonstrators has angered left-leaning critics, rankled civil rights groups and now led to at least one veiled public death threat.
Police are investigating a video published to Twitter on Wednesday night that claims militant activists in the city will continue to destroy property and riot until Wheeler resigns and also includes the mayor’s home address along with a menacing warning.
“Blood is already on your hands, Ted,” says the video’s masked and voice-altered narrator, who appears outside a MAX station and claims to be a member of Portland’s anarchist and anti-fascist community. “The next time, it may just be your own.”
Jim Middaugh, a spokesman for Wheeler, said the mayor and his office learned of the video Wednesday night and that the Portland Police Bureau opened an investigation. Middaugh said the city’s police bureau had also notified the FBI, but he declined to comment further.
Sgt. Kevin Allen, a Portland police spokesman, confirmed the bureau’s investigation but said he could not release additional details at this time. Beth Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman, confirmed the federal bureau was assisting Portland police.
It is not out of the ordinary for the mayor or members of his office to receive harsh condemnation or threats of possible harm in emails and on social media.
The two-minute video, which remained online Thursday morning, appeared less than a week after the mayor urged the public to safely stand up to a group of black bloc demonstrators who continue to plan “direct actions” around the city that routinely end with shattered windows, fires and other vandalism.
During a press conference last Friday, Wheeler asked residents to note the license plates of people who drive to the events and then don all black clothing and grab shields or weapons from their cars.
“Our job is to unmask them, arrest them and prosecute them,” he said.
Wheeler’s comments — made amid ongoing protests decrying racism and police violence, and days after Portland police fatally shot a homeless man in Lents Park — elicited a chorus of condemnation from left-wing activists as well as some other constituents.
Middaugh said the mayor’s office has seen a dramatic uptick in messages following the press conference, most of them critical of Wheeler and the remarks he made. Some claimed the mayor’s comments would encourage right-wing vigilantism while others said hardline approach was too-little, too-late.
Civil rights groups also had choice words.
“His comments are inappropriate, irresponsible, and dangerous,” said the ACLU of Oregon, which also accused the mayor of promoting vigilantism. “After more than four years as police commissioner, Ted Wheeler must finally recognize the role that unchecked police violence has in escalating tension in Portland.”
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, Wheeler’s colleague on the Portland City Council and a longtime police critic, said the mayor’s comments had “escalated community tensions” during a week that also saw Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin found guilty of murdering George Floyd.
“Last summer’s mass protests called for a transformation of our systems of community safety and criminal justice,” Hardesty said Wednesday. “This moment in history is not calling for increased punitive action.”
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