[NYPOST] After being tear-gassed when he joined a crowd protesting police brutality, the mayor of Portland said he "saw nothing that provoked this response" — even as rioters set the federal courthouse ablaze.
"I’m not gonna lie, it stings, it’s hard to breathe, and I can tell you with 100 percent honesty I saw nothing that provoked this response," Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a video shot by a news hound.
The Democrat, who said it was the first time he’d been gassed, coughed and drank water as he put on a pair of goggles someone handed him while surrounded by a phalanx of journalists.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio wondered: Where the hell was Chumbaloni? And where was his $600?...
rioters ignited a large blaze in the space between a nearby fence and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse — accidentally setting ablaze one of their comrades — as federal agents continued firing tear gas and stun grenades into the frenzied crowd.
"It’s nasty stuff, I’m not afraid but I am pissed off," Wheeler said. "This is an egregious overreaction on the part of the federal officers. There was nothing that I saw anybody do that warranted this reaction."
It wasn’t immediately clear if the federal officers were aware the mayor was in the crowd when they used the tear gas.
"As you can see, all it’s done is piss everybody off. It’s made everybody angry. They’ve come in and they kicked the hornet’s nest. This is not a de-escalation strategy. This is flat-out urban warfare and it’s being brought on the people of this country by the president of the United States," the Democratic mayor continued.
"This is a threat to our democracy," added the mayor, who arrived about 9 p.m. Wednesday to chants of "F— Ted Wheeler!" and "Do your job!"
Camouflage-clad agents from the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies were deployed to the city last week to protect federal monuments and buildings after nearly two months of demonstrations over police brutality and racism. |