Recently, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler denounced Antifa by name. This came as a shock to everyone, both on the right and the left. Wheeler has been accused of protecting Antifa for years. However, on New Year’s Day, Wheeler pledged that the city of Portland will finally begin prosecuting Antifa criminals in 2021.
The only previous time that Ted Wheeler ever called for a law enforcement crackdown on Antifa, is when they tried to form an “autonomous zone” in Portland. This was only because Wheeler’s own apartment complex was inside the area that Antifa was trying to take over. In multiple previous instances of Antifa rioting, Ted Wheeler publicly defended law enforcement stand downs.
So far, Ted Wheeler has dismally failed to make good on his promise to crack down on Antifa. The group seems to be involved in near daily crimes in the city.
On January 6th, Ted Wheeler was accosted inside a Portland restaurant by screaming Antifa, one of whom sucker punched him in the face.
On January 16th, Antifa formed a blockade of a Portland book store and violently assaulted pedestrians. Some of these assaults were caught on video. Two of the Antifa wore sparring gloves, which is clear evidence that they planned to engage in criminal assaults in advance. Police are nowhere to be seen in the video clips.
Breaking: On 16 Jan., BLM-antifa rioted outside @Powells Books during the sixth day of protests calling for my book “Unmasked” to be banned. Some of the #antifa came armed with weapons during the street brawl in downtown Portland. #PortlandRiots https://t.co/LJ1Wt8G7E3 pic.twitter.com/R8hvxFzX42
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) January 17, 2021
After pre-meditated Antifa rioting on January 20th, that was advertised in advance on Twitter and Instagram, fifteen people were arrested. They have all been released with zero bail. Some of the people arrested have been arrested at one or more Antifa riots in the past and never prosecuted. Of all the people arrested for rioting in Portland last year, fewer than ten percent were still being prosecuted by the end of the year. The District Attorney’s office for Multnomah County almost always drops their charges.
Yet now, in a shocking turn of events, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has admitted to hosing a man in his eyes with pepper spray after he complained about the mayor’s lockdown mandates.
On January 24th, the unnamed man accused Wheeler of not obeying his own mask mandate as Wheeler was exiting the McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House. Wheeler admits spraying the man directly in the eyes, saying he feared he would contract Covid-19.
“He had no face mask on and got within a foot or two of my face while he was videoing me. I became imminently concerned for my personal safety, as I had recently been physically accosted in a similar situation. In addition, I was concerned about contracting COVID given that he was right in my face and he was not wearing a face mask.” – Ted Wheeler
Wheeler alleges that he hurled a bottle of water to the man as he drove away, so the man could use it to wash out his eyes.
Ironically, Ted Wheeler recently enacted strict new rules barring the Portland police department from using pepper spray except in the most extreme circumstances.
