A simmering dispute between a pack of homeless street youths and the operators of a downtown Portland foodcart finally boiled over Monday afternoon and resulted in a brawl that ended with police hauling six people off to jail.



Both sides reported opponents were armed with brass knuckles, knives and a police-style baton during the fight, which spilled out onto Southwest Third Avenue and involved as many as 15 youths facing off several cart operators.



One foodcart operator had a minor injury on his hand.



His friend, who came to his aid when a group of youths surrounded the operators, sustained a scratch on his face when he was punched. He said one youth had a knife, the other brass knuckles. He said he tossed one youth to the ground during the attack.



Police recovered a pocketknife at the scene.



Although the official trouble began Monday morning, both sides said tension can be traced back to last summer during ongoing issues between cart operators and street youths who hang out near the foodcarts, located on Southwest Third Avenue between Stark and Washington Streets.



At about 3:45 p.m. Monday police were called in connection with a dispute at the cart pod, the Portland Police Bureau reported.



On the way, dispatchers said that there were reports that some of those involved were armed, and when they arrived people were still fighting.



After restoring order, police interviewed Amir Amani, 31, the operator of the "Persian Plate" foodcart.



He said he was upset Monday morning because the propane line to a neighboring cart had been cut, more of what he said was ongoing vandalism he attributed to street youths. He said there were two fights Monday between cart operators and street youths.



Police were called and took reports.



He said police stayed at the scene for a while, but the operators were eventually told police "can't stand here all day."



After police left, Amani said the youths "threatened to kill me" after they saw him talking with police.



Street youths warned him that "snitches get stitches."



Others yelled that the cart operators would get "street justice."



The problems at the carts began last summer, Amani said, when he claimed street youths harassed customers, vandalized and broke into carts during the night.



On Monday, the youths, Amani and other cart operators began jawing at each other.



Wade Varner, a homeless advocate who was there, said the argument got out of hand.



"It was stupid," he said. "Instead of deescalating, it got confrontational and there's nothing more that gutter punks like than a confrontation."



He said some cart operators were "harassing" the youths, calling them "bums" and telling them to leave the area.



Mackenzie Manzurkiewicz, a self-described street youth, said that some of the cart operators swore at some of the youths and provoked a fight.



"At one point they started mean mugging us," she said. "They told us to come over and confront them."



Some of the youths did, she said, and the fight began.



She said one cart operator used a club to chase one of the young men down the street, and also struck her friend.



Amani and his friend said that they were surrounded by as many as 15 youths during the fight.



Taken into custody were: Tatiana Dawn Gutierrez, 18, Mathew Allen Juniper, 21, James Paine, 21, Matthew Koontz, 23, Samuel Gene Hambrick, 25, and Zachary Lee Lloyd, 19.



Police are continuing to investigate the brawl and said charges could include fourth-degree assault, menacing, harassment and second-degree disorderly conduct.



Cart operators said Monday night they want the police to crack down on street problems at the pod. They said they support their families by operating the carts, but the area is "getting dangerous."



Street youths said they just want to be left alone and not harassed.



Long after police left the scene, a small group of street youths hung out down the block where Varner and another homeless advocate talked with them.



Up the block, the cart operators huddled.



"We will have each other's backs," one man said.



Just then a woman crossing street lifted her hand toward the cart operators and yelled that "snitches get stitches."



--Tom Hallman Jr.







