On the first anniversary of the Muslim and refugee ban dictated by the current administration, Portland progressives staged a protest at the airport. Organizers secured a permit and cooperated with airport “Security,” agreeing to be kettled in a so-called “Free Speech Zone” behind waist-high barriers outdoors in the rain and wind. Organizers consented to a number of requirements including limited access to the area (up a long ramp that was daunting to people with mobility issues, the elderly and the very young), and limitations on sign size (nothing larger than 22" x 28"). They even agreed that their signs would be “respectful,” whatever that means. In return they asked for two things: a small stage with a walloping sound system, and no uniformed police mixing with the protesters. Organizers got their stage and sound system, and a phalanx of uniformed police stayed a polite 20 feet away from the protest.
About 400 protesters showed up: refugee families and recent immigrants, political moderates, the usual Portland activists and antifascists, and numerous “progressives” who advocate various political strategies. A group of middle-aged women in black outfits with green foam “Lady Liberty” hats performed an interpretive dance. Politicians, poets, and social workers spoke into the microphone. When a group of Iranian children was just about to sing a folk song with taped instrumental accompaniment, ten Alt Right “counter-protesters” stormed up the ramp into the crowd, shouting “Spawn of Satan!” and “Terrorist Muslim bombers! ”
Despite this disruption, the recorded music of oud, flute, and drum continued, and Polo, Master of Ceremonies, spoke firmly and calmly into the microphone, “Remember that our first audience for this rally is refugee families. Please remain peaceful, and do nothing that would endanger anyone. We see that some brothers are arriving with different opinions, but we are going to continue with our program, as planned.”
At first the Alt Right took up a position directly in front of the stage, but the Antifa, the Peace Team (in blue vests), the ACLU observers (in blue vests), and many smiling bystanders gently, persistently, and unobtrusively moved closer to the stage, putting their bodies and their signs between the children and the men spewing hate.
By the time the children left the stage, the small group of Alt Right agitators had been eased off to the southeast of the stage, and the children exited to a thunderous ovation and spontaneously broke into a circle dance.
View from a bridge: the Alt Right has been relegated to the upper right corner, surrounded by journalists and Peace Team, as bystanders form a human shield between them and the children, upper left, while the majority of rally participants face the stage and the remaining speakers.
When the speeches ended, a local band, Bajo Solario, led the protesters on a march down the ramp from the “Free Speech Zone” to the parking and transportation area. The Alt Right continued attempting to harass rally participants. An intrepid group of unlikely comrades including Democratic Party, Socialists, anarchists, and unhoused people linked arms, using their bodies as shields to protect protesters from the Alt Right.
