Police meet with labor council

The Portland Police Bureau doesn't have on its agenda plans to start cracking down on labor rallies and demonstrations, a top cop told Executive Board members of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council (NOLC).

Assistant Chief Bruce Prunk met with the council's Executive Board July 10 to discuss the strong police showing May 1 during a rally by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) at Powell's Books on West Burnside downtown and at a May Day gathering in the South Park Blocks by various groups to celebrate that international holiday.

The stronger-than-usual police presence (about 60 officers) actually had nothing to do with the ILWU rally or the South Park Blocks picnic, Prunk told the Executive Board, but rather with some persons not affiliated with organized labor that the bureau had information "were intent on civil disobedience and criminal behavior."

Before the day was over nearly two dozen people had been arrested and several persons were injured when police fired beanbag shotguns, whacked protesters with batons, and used aggressive horse patrols in an effort to disperse crowds that it claimed had become unruly.

Many of the clashes were videotaped by local news crews and people with private video cameras. For the most part, demonstrators appeared to be obeying police orders to move when police moved in with what many insisted was excessive force.

The event was dubbed "The May Day Melee" by the media and subsequent articles by Willamette Week quoted new Police Chief Mark Kroeker, formerly of Los Angeles, as saying Portlanders should get use to more shows of force by police at demonstrations and rallies.

Concerned by the articles and by what they saw on newscasts (several Executive Board members actually witnessed the "melee" first-hand because they were among the demonstrators at Powell's or they had taken their families to the Park Blocks for the May Day picnic), NOLC invited both Chief Kroeker and Mayor Vera Katz to attend a regular meeting to talk about the incident. Because he was unavailable, Kroeker sent Prunk in his place. Katz nor anyone from her staff was able to attend. Prunk admitted that "some mistakes were made" during the nine-hour May Day event, but he assured the Executive Board that the Police Bureau under Chief Kroeker has no intention of cracking down on labor rallies or demonstrations.

"We support folks' right to assemble and get their message out. It is our job to balance people's rights to free expression and assembly with our commitments to ensuring public safety and maintaining peace and order," he said, echoing the comments made by Kroeker in a special May Day report by the Police Bureau that examined police conduct on May 1.

Prunk said Kroeker is committed to community policing and that he was misquoted by Willamette Week when it reported his comments about increased police force.

The Police Bureau's top brass was on alert May 1, Prunk said, because of information it had obtained about some so-called anarchists and animal liberation and environmental groups that were calling for unrest at May Day events in Portland.

Disturbances in Seattle and Eugene late last year and recent acts of vandalism in Portland by groups claiming to be anarchists weighed heavily in the decision to step up police presence on May Day, Prunk said.

ILWU organizers actually met with the bureau beforehand to go over their plans to march from the Hilton Hotel (where 400 delegates were attending a national union convention) to West Burnside Street and 10th Avenue, where Powell's is located. Prunk also said the bureau had permit applications for the picnic at the South Park Blocks.

What they didn't have, he explained, was information about a parade that had formed in northeast Portland or subsequent rallies at City Hall and the World Trade Center.

"Basically what we had was four different events spread out over the city over the course of nine hours," Prunk said. "We had information about some groups not affiliated with labor, and when we tried to make contact with those groups, we didn't get any feedback."

Prunk said the bureau received 15 minutes' notice of a "pirates parade" that started in northeast Portland and headed to the Broadway Bridge and downtown. "We received a number of 9-1-1 calls about the parade," where many participants were dressed in black and who identified themselves as anarchists and/or the "black block," Prunk told the E-Board.

"We reached out to help them go where they wanted to go ... and they didn't know where they wanted to go," he said.

According to the assistant chief, some of the paraders had rocks in their pockets and some donned gas masks. Several persons were later found with acid-filled eggs in their possession.

Prunk said the parade meandered through the streets of northeast Portland for more than 90 minutes before the groups' float broke down on the Broadway Bridge, causing a traffic jam. "This was a group of 150 to 200 people with no marshals and no apparent leaders who were trying to attach themselves to events that didn't involve them," he said.

The paraders had made their way to Southwest Third Avenue and Salmon Street when police officials decided it was time for them to disperse. As marchers split into smaller groups and headed in different directions, police lost communication with each other and with the crowd.

"It was loud, it was hard to hear, yeah, it could have gone better," Prunk said.

Unionists were on edge at Powell's when they saw police on the streets in riot uniforms and carrying batons. At one point, several riot cops kept ILWU members from getting to Powell's to join the rally. After 10 minutes they were allowed to pass.

After the ILWU rally, many marchers headed back to the Hilton Hotel, where a crowd formed and some people spilled onto Broadway Street. "There was a lot of anger back at the Hilton and people didn't want to disperse" right away, Prunk said. "A lot of restraint was shown after Powell's (by police officers)," he said.

Prunk welcomed the Executive Board's idea of holding regular meetings with the Police Bureau, especially prior to large events. "We will work with everyone we can to do a better job," he said.