New CHAZ is thus established.
Protesters in Portland, who have largely been given the run of the Pacific Northwest city’s business district for some time, have established a new autonomous zone with the hopes of preventing a black family from being evicted.
Sympathizers have been camped out for months in an attempt to prevent the Kinney family from being evicted, but on Tuesday morning, Newsweek reports, the protesters used fences and barricades that had been set up by law enforcement to surround the home.
Photos of the newly established autonomous zone outside the “Red House on Mississippi” were shared by Zane Sparling of the Portland Tribune on Twitter
“Portland has a new autonomous zone here on Mississippi Avenue,” Sparling wrote.
He shared video of the fences and other items that were used as a barricade to prevent law enforcement from entering the area.
Portland has a new autonomous zone here on Mississippi Avenue.
The Kinney family says their home was foreclosed on because they owed less than $100K, while the vacant land next door is with $10 million pic.twitter.com/nEngxmATbX
— Zane Sparling (@PDXzane) December 8, 2020
“The barricades at Portland’s newest autonomous zone are being reinforced with power tools… no sign of police since they were forced back. Observers tell me the clash reminded them of recent scenes in Paris,” Sparling wrote in a follow-up tweet which also showed signs around the home declaring “Red House Sovereignty” and “No Jurisdiction.”
The barricades at Portland’s newest autonomous zone are being reinforced with power tools… no sign of police since they were forced back
Observers tell me the clash reminded them of recent scenes in Paris pic.twitter.com/ICzxfeDdId
— Zane Sparling (@PDXzane) December 8, 2020
Newsweek notes that “According to a website for the red house, the home was foreclosed on in 2018, but the Kinney family, who have lived in the home for 65 years, challenged the foreclosure. Despite the challenge and a long legal battle, a Multnomah County Judge sanctioned the eviction in February, commanding the county’s sheriff’s office to remove the family.”
“The judgment was issued prior to state and federal emergency moratoriums. The eviction moratoriums do not apply to evictions based on post-nonjudicial foreclosures, such as this case,” the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office wrote of the conflict in a press release.
Protesters gathered around the house to prevent the family’s eviction following the judge’s orders.
They have since been causing local law enforcement quite a few headaches, as you can imagine. The Portland Police Department does not appear to have the will to re-establish law and order.
According to a press release from the Portland Police Department, “over the past three months, people have been illegally trespassing on properties on Mississippi Avenue, including in a house and on privately owned lots. Today, police encountered people trespassing at these locations.”
“Calls for service included, but were not limited to: fights, disturbances, shots fired, burglary, thefts, vandalism, noise violations, trespassing, threats (including by armed individuals), and for illegally blocking traffic, sidewalks and access to homes,” the release states.
In Seattle, protesters took over several square blocks of business and apartments where for weeks, crime flourished and two young men ended up being shot before police finally dismantled the “CHAZ” or “CHOP” as it was alternately known.
So now these Portland radicals are going to try to implement the same thing in a residential neighborhood?
What could possibly go wrong?
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