Out in the streets

There was much street demonstration in Portland yesterday. On that account, I don't think that makes us too much different from any other big city in the country.

There was a lot of whooping it up in the center of downtown, at Pioneer Courthouse Square, during the day and well into the night. The scene looked to be violence- and arrest-free. A couple of Trump vehicles drove through, but they were more pitiful than threatening.

A less peaceful, but much smaller, incident took place at night down at the immigration jail in South Waterfront. About two dozen demonstrators did their usual provocation of the federal riot cops. It appeared that the latter obliged the taunts, came out, and arrested a protester or two.

Down in the state capital of Salem, the usual Trump demonstrators and the usual anti-Trump demonstrators faced off for a couple of hours in the afternoon. There was taunting, pushing, shoving, punching, and macing. Some people were arrested, four it appears.

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I suspect there will be more of the Salem-type incident, weather permitting, over the next few weeks as the manufactured drama drones on. Which is a shame on a number of levels, but the worst is the current Covid situation. It's a really dumb time to be crowding around each other yelling, whether it's cheers or hate.