On Sunday afternoon, members of a far-right group led by a Republican Senate candidate engaged in running brawls with leftist counter-protesters in the streets of downtown Portland.

Joey Gibson, who leads the “Patriot Prayer” movement, is a candidate in the open primary for US Senate in neighbouring Washington state, seeking to challenge the incumbent Democrat, Maria Cantwell, in November’s midterm elections.

From 4pm on Sunday, when the main body of Gibson’s supporters attempted to enter Terry Schrunk Plaza in Portland, 30 or so rightwingers and around 200 leftwingers exchanged blows, streams of pepper spray and insults. One rightwing protester was dragged away by police with a bloodied nose and face. He had exchanged heated words with antifascists before being wrestled to the ground.

Portland police reported four arrests.

Over almost three hours, Patriot Prayer staged a series of marches through surrounding streets. Each time, antifascists pursued them and fights broke out on sidewalks, in a parking garage and in a waterfront park. Participants on both sides were knocked to the ground, hit with missiles and visibly incapacitated by pepper spray.

The rally was ostensibly staged as a farewell for a prominent Patriot Prayer member, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, who says he is returning to his native Samoa. It did not feature any substantial speeches or political content. Mostly, speakers encouraged Patriot Prayer members to stand up to their antagonists.

Police deployed a range of tactics. After the initial confrontations, they separated the two groups, pushing counter-protesters to another park. When they could, they appeared to focus on shielding the smaller right-wing group with ranks of officers in riot gear.

The event took place a day before the first anniversary of a much larger Patriot Prayer event that featured many celebrities from the “alt-right” movement and drew thousands of counter-protesters.



It was staged just over a week after a double murder on a Portland commuter train police say was carried out by Jeremy Christian, a man who had attended a Patriot Prayer event. Police say Christian stabbed to death two men who attempted to intervene as he racially abused two young women.

Patriot Prayer is based in Vancouver, Washington. Throughout 2017, it staged rallies in the heart of famously liberal Portland. In July and August, police took a hands-off approach as Patriot Prayer and its opponents fought for hours.

Since Gibson’s announcement that he is running as a Republican for the US Senate, he and his group have openly carried firearms at rallies in Washington state.

Gibson’s critics and opponents have argued that his rallies draw an extremist and white supremacist element that makes the community unsafe. Gibson has billed his events as celebrations of free speech.

On Sunday, along with several members of the “Proud Boys” group, the Patriot Prayer event attracted members of the far right “Hell Shaking Street Preachers”, whose banners and T-shirts carry homophobic slogans. The group has protested the Portland LGBT Pride parade.



On Saturday, Patriot Prayer plans to stage a pro-life protest at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington.