Security guard pulls gun on protesters in downtown Portland
Portland OR March 13 2021
A security guard at a Chase Bank branch in downtown Portland pulled a gun on protesters who appeared to be attempting to enter the building Thursday afternoon, video footage shows.
The incident came as Stop Line 3 protesters moved through downtown, focusing on different funders of the proposed replacement and expansion of an oil pipeline that would go from the Canadian province of Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin.
Protesters say the new corridor would harm watersheds, wild rice lands and Anishinaabe treaty territories. They argue corporations should clean up an existing, old pipeline.
Portland demonstrators gathered in Chapman Square at 1 p.m. and marched to the Chase Bank branch — their first of multiple stops, according to Twitter user @45thabsurdist, who posted the video.
Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot, a Chase spokesperson, said the bank was investigating the incident, and said that all customers and employees at the bank were safe.
“The sergeant that was monitoring the protest did not hear any calls about a gun being pulled,” Portland Police spokesperson Kevin Allen said Friday.
Tweets show the protesters eventually made it inside the bank branch at Southwest Sixth Avenue and Yamhill Street, where they drummed and sang before moving on.
Protesters eventually made their way to the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, where at least 20 U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers carrying shields met them in front of the building.
Portland police confirmed that they arrested one person at the courthouse on suspicion of damaging property during the protest. They said the person punched an officer in the face while they tried to arrest him.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar reported members of the crowd yelled at DHS officers and one person threw a paint balloon. DHS officers used pepper spray before going back into the courthouse, according to the Twitter account @45thabsurdist.
A downtown Chase Bank employee said workers at the branch aren’t allowed to talk to the press.
