Hours after blaming cops for Portland unrest, city commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty apologizes: 'But I'm angry'
Portland’s endless protest woes took a fresh turn on Wednesday, July 22, evening after the city’s commissioner, Jo Ann Hardesty, apologized over a claim that the police are sending “saboteurs” and “provocateurs” to infiltrate anti-racism protests to start fires that have hit it for more than 50 consecutive nights. The 62-year-old Democrat’s apology came as the civil unrest that continued in Oregon’s largest city as protesters clashed with local police and federal personnel. Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty tendered her apology for claiming police are sending "saboteurs" to infiltrate anti-racism demonstrations to start fires that have lit up the city on many of the 56 consecutive nights of protests.
Portland mayor got tear-gassed
The Portland protests turned ugly on Wednesday evening when Mayor Ted Wheeler got hit by the tear gas amid the chaos. He accused President Donald Trump of conducting “urban warfare” after he was caught in the tear-gassing of protesters by the federal forces. He said he saw nothing that provoked such a response while standing with the protesters outside the federal courthouse which has become the center of the confrontation. Even the mayor was not spared by the activists who accused him of using the city police to attack other protests.
The Trump administration has been accused of using its police force brutally as it was alleged that unidentified federal agents had been deployed in Portland to take on the protesters who were even picked in unmarked vehicles and taken away. This has added fuel to the fire as the protesters have demanded kicking out the agents besides defunding the local police.
Hardesty earlier said on Wednesday that she didn’t believe the protesters in Portland were setting fires but the police were sending in “saboteurs” and “provocateurs" to cause the strife — a claim which was not substantiated and received a backlash from the police immediately. She even took an indirect dig at fellow Democrat Wheeler by uttering “ignorance at the highest levels in our city government” while speaking in a national briefing held by Western States Center, a left-leaning think tank in Portland. “I want people to know that I do not believe there’s any protesters in Portland that are setting fires, that are creating crisis. I absolutely believe it’s police action, and they’re sending saboteurs and provocateurs into peaceful crowds so they justify their inhumane treatment of people who are standing up for their rights,” she said. She reiterated the same during an interview with Marie Claire saying: “I believe Portland Police [Bureau] is lying about the damage — or starting the fires themselves — so that they have justification for attacking community members.”
Hardesty targeted mayor, police
It was just a few days earlier that Hardesty tweeted slamming Wheeler, who also acts as the police commissioner, asking the latter to hand her over the police bureau if he could not control the police. She even slammed Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner after he met the acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, suspecting the local police were working in tandem with the federal forces. Hardesty’s remarks earned wide criticism and she eventually made an apology later on Wednesday, saying she made them while being emotional. According to Oregon Live, Hardesty, who took over in January last year, said in a statement: “Today I let my emotions get the most of me during council and the comment I made to the press. But I’m angry, frustrated and horrified by what has happened these past 50 days.”
“I'm angry that even as a city commissioner, I am coming up against countless barriers from protecting Portlanders from the deluge of tear gas, pepper spray and other munitions on a nightly basis.” Between May 29 and July 2, the Portland Fire & Rescue Bureau, where Hardesty sits as fire commissioner, recorded 144 fires attributed to civil unrest, Daily Mail reported.
Hardesty said recently that being a child of the 1960s, she doesn’t get scared easily. She also said that as a child of the Civil Rights movement, she has experienced that people are sent to pro-justice movements and protests to create incidents that justify brutal police retaliation and that made her suspect something similar happening in Portland at the moment. But she conceded that “using unfounded claims and misinformation is something no one in any position of power should do”.
“And you deserve better. I appreciate the reminder that as a public servant I need to be careful making statements out of misinformation, and I take this to heart. I hope this is something Portland Police Bureau will also remember as they put out nightly statements regarding the protests, their conduct and their involvement with federal officers, because we can all agree lives are on the line,” she said.
Portland police blast Hardesty
Portland's local police authorities slammed Hardesty for her remarks targeting the law-enforcement authorities. While Turner asked her to “immediately produce” evidence to back her “outlandish accusation”, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lowell tweeted, saying Hardesty’s accusation against the police “strains credulity” and that he was disappointed to see an elected official making such a statement. He called the allegation “completely false”. City authorities have found themselves drawing flak from President Trump after Black Lives Matter protests erupted in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. The president recently expanded the scope of Operation Legend to target other violence-affected cities like Chicago and Albuquerque which has caused an outrage.
The Portland City Council also passed on Wednesday new policies that banned the members of the local police bureau from cooperating with federal agents as the city officials want to see the federal troops sent by Trump to turn back. Hardesty is also one of the many Oregon officials who have asked the president to withdraw the federal agents. Hardesty is one of many Oregon officials who've repeatedly asked Trump to remove federal agents after he deployed them without their consent.