Open Thread – Alberta St. “Riot” Thursday night
News this morning is reporting that as festivities from NE Alberta St’s Last Thursday were winding down, a large group of people began congregating around NE 24th and Alberta dancing. They eventually spilled into the street, blocking traffic. Police became involved when an officer witnessed a fight and engaged the individuals. After tasing one person, the officers were then met with an angry crowd. (Just repeating what I read.)
I have been to numerous Last Thursday events. It is mostly what I would refer to as a 30 something hippy crowd. The type of people who make the annual pilgrimage to the Oregon Country Fair. Oh, and they have kids also. Then again, I may be wrong.
So, who was “rioting?”
KPTV reported the story this morning, but only interviewed two young Black men. Typical Oregon media response?
Your thoughts in the comments.
The article on KGW indicated that a lot of people involved were ‘drinking in public’… Thats something I’ve seen a lot of Last Thursday, but I don’t think it explains a riot. It’s a really fun, chaotic event, and I don’t think anyone would be excited to see the cops show up, so people probably just started reacting to the police presence (regardless of whether they were trying to stop a fight or not). Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen cops there. I’ve always wondered how they would react to the firebreathers in the street and thousands of pedestrians walking in the car lanes. I tend to agree with Jonathan at BikePortland – we should shut the street down for this event. I’d say lets take it a notch further and embrace the chaos :) Leave the cops out unless they are specifically called in.
The KATU article seems a bit more rational, including actually talking to the people involved: http://www.katu.com/news/7222156.html
Sounds like there were a few disorderly folks but I’d hardly call it a riot.
Embrace the chaos? To what extent?
“To what extent?”
to the extent of blocking off the street to traffic sounds reasonable to me. but then again, some neighbors may not like the bus re routing…
the KATU video and press release from the police sound pretty reasonable. I bet people were pretty confused when they saw one of their fellow partiers get tasered. by “embrace the chaos”, I meant that the best part of Last thursday is that some rules slip a bit… sure theres some public drinking, and some people dancing in the street… but thats what makes it a bit magical. The cops should let the people dance in the street (and congregate en masse). It sounds like the people in the street were the main reason they jumped in, not because they saw a fight first.
God, can we just put the hippie tag to bed? Sure there’ll always be hippies in Portland, but the 30-somethings around town rarely are.
Is it just easier to lump everybody who’s young and dressed kinda funky into the ol’ hippie bucket? I grew up here, went to school in Eugene… the only hippies I see are mellow, middle aged folks who never quite gave up the persona. Hippie-dom lived and died with that generation.
I use Hippy in an endearing way, not as a slight. My thought of a hippy usually has nothing to do with who they are, but by how they appear. It wasn’t meant to insult.
I happen to be there during the incident. The crowd was very jubilent and peaceful. I did not see the fight but did view thew aftermath. The police were very intense over what seemed to be a very small situation. The over re-action from the authorities seemed to only spur the crowd. I can only hope that this doesn’t provoke futher restictions on what seems to be a wonderful event.
I happen to be there during the incident. The crowd was very jubilent and peaceful. I did not see the fight but did view the aftermath. The police were very intense, over what seemed to be a very small situation. The over re-action from the authorities seemed to only spur the crowd. Once again media coverage showed it as 200 plus people “MOB” rioting. It was 2 people! I can only hope that this doesn’t provoke futher restictions on what seems to be a wonderful event.
People keep talking about the police over-reaction. So far I’ve read that there were a bunch of officers, they broke up one fight, used a taser on one person, and there was a brief moment of tension after one of the bystanders picked up a police taser.
Where’s the overreaction?
I think the overreaction is that the cops decided that a dance party at Last Thursday warranted showing up with riot gear, helmets, a firetruck, etc. Check the comments on blogtown for some details. http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/2007/04/last_thursday_clash.php
sorry, i meant bikeportland, not blogtown. here is one quote from a commenter:
“I was there last night and like usual the crowd was very peaceful. The police came with multiple cars, motorcycles, firetrucks ambulances, and riot gear. The Portland Police created and unruly situation last night. ”
http://bikeportland.org/2007/04/27/last-thursday-fracas-raises-carfree-question/#more-3504
Hippies were a particular kind of people who lives in the 60s and early 70s. They no longer exist. Do not call today’s bohemians “hippies,” as it’s a lame and old term that is inaccurate. Come up with a new and unique term to describe them if you must, but stop relying on the creativity of another generation.
I’m new in town and drove down Alberta street around 8:30 pm for Last Thursday. I was surprised at the large crowds and wanted to get off the treet as soon as possible.
I agree Alberta street should be closed for this event; it wouldn’t impact the neighborhood that bad for an evening a month.
It wasn’t my type of thing so I didn’t stay but it looks like Multitudes have a good time.
Police need to respond in riot gear because any large crowd can get violent in an instant.
Drinking in public? Big Fucking Deal.
There are no hippies in Portland.
Find your own identity.
And HAVE FUN!!!
Okay Ken. You’re right. How about annoying pretentious little shits?
The Local Media is useless.
There was no riot, and no true Mob.
it was not an Anarchist Action.
Workforf_ood.livejournal.com