New Leftist Militant Group Running Rampant in Portland
The name of the group is the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front.
Its signature? Thousands of dollars in damages after more than a month of anti-police protests in Portland, Oregon, according to the Seattle Times.
During the group’s rampage, businesses in Portland have suffered $23 million in damage and lost business, according to Fox News.
“We’re six weeks into this,” Portland Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said last week. “A walk through downtown today will expose you to a scene of boarded-up windows, extensive damage to public property and really an unfortunate scene in our city center.”
More than 100 people have also been injured, he said. Police have counted more than 140 arson fires.
Protests have raged in Portland for 46 consecutive nights, and on Saturday night featured violent confrontations between protesters and police, according to The Oregonian.
For those who keep asking me why Portland is tolerating 45+ days of violent BLM and antifa protests: https://t.co/QntFUE4WkI
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 12, 2020
The Youth Liberation Front is not alone in stoking protests, but its Facebook page is a rallying cry for protests.
“Abolish the police! Abolish the feds!” it proclaims.
The group’s Twitter page also proclaims its hatred of the police, often using the word “pigs” to characterize the police.
“They shot us on the sidewalk, they shot us sitting down, they shot us as we moved away, they shot us with our hands up. Fighting back has never been what subjects us to violence, in fact, its the only way to stop it,” the group tweeted Monday.
They shot us on the sidewalk, they shot us sitting down, they shot us as we moved away, they shot us with our hands up.
Fighting back has never been what subjects us to violence, in fact, its the only way to stop it.— PNW Youth Liberation Front (@PNWYLF) July 13, 2020
So who are they?
The Seattle Times, without quoting named sources, said the group is “resolutely anti-capitalist and anti-fascist” with “disdain for those who work for reform within what they view as a failing political system.”
One leader claimed last fall to have been in high school, the newspaper reported. All of its leaders are young, it said.
Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front. A group of TEENAGERS! 6/18 tweet: “We are a bunch of teenagers armed with ADHD and yerba mate – we can take the 5am raid and be back on our feet a few hours later….”
BLM ✔ ANTIFA✔ PNYLF✔
Got it! ?https://t.co/T8JhoqRT8g— Tina_Anon (@TinaAnon1) July 13, 2020
The Times, in summing up social media messages from the Youth Liberation Front members, said they” portray acts of vandalism as part of the broader struggle to make big changes in America. They reject any effort — by police or other groups — to divide the protest movement into those who are peaceful and those who turn to violence.”
In writing about the shadowy group, the Oregonian noted that it “has called for sustained use of tactics relying on confrontation and openly eschewed collaboration with police.”
“With real change comes a lot of collateral damage,” the Times quoted one protester as saying.
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