Charlie Hales Parade.jpg

Mayor Charlie Hales & Oregon Mayors Marching Group before all hell broke loose during the 2015 Spirit Mountain Casino Grand Floral Parade on June 6, 2015. Randy L. Rasmussen/Staff

UPDATE: New videos offer another look at clash between mayors, activists

Cultures clashed and a camera was smashed in the minutes after Saturday's Grand Floral Parade, when a small-town mayor physically intervened in a heated verbal dispute between homeless advocates and Portland Mayor Charlie Hales.

Greg Maas, mayor of tiny Waterloo in Linn County, appeared to bump into and grab "Kif" Davis, a self-proclaimed "activist-journalist" who'd been hurling angry questions at Hales. Within hours, activists posted a video of the altercation on YouTube. It shows Maas, a burly 47-year-old, making contact with Davis while another unidentified mayor urges him on.

"We're from the country, we don't put up with this crap," the unidentified mayor said.

"Hey, I need police," Davis screamed. He accused Maas of breaking his camera.

Davis said he was asking important, valid questions about a series of what he called city "sweeps" of homeless camps. Hales' "staff was blocking me," he said. "They were pushing and shoving. Then this Waterloo guy comes running, gets right in my face and grabs my camera lens, torques the viewfinder and breaks it. This all happened right in front of Hales."

Mike Bluehair, an activist-ally of Davis who filmed the altercation, said Maas went out of his way to confront Davis.

Maas said he was concerned for his family's safety. His wife, five kids and one grandchild accompanied him to Portland. He said his 9-year-old daughter was so upset by the rancor of the confrontation she broke out in tears.

He denied breaking Davis' camera.

"I didn't overreact," said Maas, a former U.S. Marine. "If I overreacted, he would have been hurt. I do know how to handle myself. I'm not afraid to protect myself or my family."

Enterprise Mayor Steve Lear was in the midst of the melee. "The guys with the cameras were clearly the aggressors," he said. "They just kept on pushing and pushing, dropping the F-bomb, and worse. Frankly, I'm surprised the guy from Waterloo didn't end it with one punch."

The mayors had marched in the parade under the banner of the Oregon Mayor's Association.

The activists dogged Hales much of the route and closed in after the parade ended. They claim the Portland Police Bureau staged daily raids of downtown-area homeless camps in advance of the parade, grabbing people's belongings and telling them to move on.

"They've done it every day for a week now," Bluehair said. "They wanted to prettify the city for the Rose Festival. It's class-based apartheid."

Officials deny the city is "sweeping" homeless camps. Sara Hottman, Hales' spokeswoman, did confirm the city is conducting a campaign to inform the homeless of available services and that they can't continue to camp on city streets and parks.

Hales for the most part refused to engage the activists Saturday. He can be seen in the video hustling away from Davis and Bluehair. "Hales took off at a slow jog," Maas said. "And his security did, too."

That left the other mayors on their own.

After his camera was damaged, Davis' rhetoric grew increasingly strident and obscene. "He did use the F word," Bluehair said. "But it wasn't addressed to Maas' family."

The confrontation continued at the Goose Hollow Inn, where the mayors gathered to meet with Hales and Gov. Kate Brown. One activist carried a banner reading "Delete the Elite."

Hales can be seen on the video on the Goose Hollow deck in a brief face-to-face conversation with Maas. Hottman said Hales was apologizing for the incident and for leaving them without security.

Portland police arrived at the scene and interviewed the principal players. The bureau would not furnish a copy of the police report.

-- Jeff Manning

503-294-7606, jmanning@oregonian.com

@JeffmanningOre