This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Late on Sunday, immediately after an “alt-right” Patriot Prayer rally in Vancouver, Washington, a man aggressively reversed a truck towards a crowd of people who had been counter-protesting. Later, the same driver was apprehended by police.

The incident came less than a month after the car attack that killed Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, after an alt-right rally which she had protested against.

Video from local journalists showed the truck reversing down the street towards counter-protesters, blaring the Confederate battle song Dixie on a novelty airhorn. The truck, which had been circling the town, was reportedly pelted with water bottles and other missiles.

When the truck, which sported a Confederate battle flag decal as well as American flags, sped through the intersection of West 6th and Washington Streets, it was followed by a motorcyclist who had been seen leaving the Patriot Prayer rally. Both were stopped by police.

The motorcyclist tore off his protective gear and made for counter-protesters before he was stopped. The driver of the truck was apprehended and cuffed. Vancouver police reported two arrests.

Protesters claimed that a second truck, white and carrying four passengers – one wearing the black polo-shirt uniform of the “Proud Boys” group, another wearing a Donald Trump cap – was also driving at high speed through the streets, reversing and veering dangerously close to protesters.

Greg Liascos, who attended the event, said he saw occupants of the second vehicle “throwing things from the truck” at counter-protesters. Occupants reportedly also used pepper spray. When a plastic bottle and a tennis ball were thrown back, the driver reportedly commenced revving the vehicle and “driving up and reversing down streets” at up to 40mph.

Later, a white truck with four occupants matching the eyewitness description was seen being protected by police until it was able to attempt a safe exit. It struck a police vehicle as it pulled away. That truck also carried a Confederate flag decal.

Those incidents were the culmination of protests in Vancouver and just across the Columbia river in Portland, Oregon, which Patriot Prayer organizer Joey Gibson had billed as “peaceful”.



In Portland, from about 1pm, a token contingent of 10 Patriot Prayer supporters, minus Gibson, paraded inside a barricaded area protected by dozens of riot police. They were outnumbered about 40 to one by antifascist counter-protesters, some wearing masks and black clothing, who ringed the park on its north and west sides. A pushed-over barricade led to an arrest and a police deployment of gas weapons.

As a larger contingent of counter-protesters marched on the park from nearby Schrunk Plaza, under the banner of Portland Stands United Against Hate, the Patriot Prayer group left under police escort.

As counter-protesters converged on a park further into the downtown area, several were arrested and police deployed “flash bang” stun grenades and gas weapons.

In a statement, Portland police said they made seven arrests.

After advertising the Portland rally for months, Gibson announced late on Saturday that the main part of his event would move to his home city of Vancouver. He cited concern for the safety of his supporters.

The second rally went ahead at Vancouver Landing Ampitheater from 2pm, and a large contingent of police kept apart approximately 100 members of Gibson’s contingent and a group of counter-protesters whose numbers reached around 300.

Confrontations began as Gibson’s contingent left the venue around 4pm. They continued intermittently for the next hour as police officers from Vancouver and Portland struggled to contain them.

Police tactics in Portland were much more interventionist than at the previous two Patriot Prayer rallies, where a hands-off approach allowed evenly matched groups of protesters and counter-protesters to become involved in running brawls.

Gibson’s last-minute switching of venues was reminiscent of his approach in the Bay Area last month, when Patriot Prayer cancelled a permitted event in San Francisco and then confronted a large counter-protest the next day at an unpermitted event in Berkeley.

The Portland rally was the latest in a series of 13 events by Vancouver-based Patriot Prayer in liberal cities including Portland, Seattle, Berkeley and Olympia, Washington.