Members of the right-wing Proud Boys militia group and left-wing Antifa, commonly known as anti-fascists, clashed at a protest in downtown Portland on Saturday, Portland Tribune said.
The altercation occurred at Tom McCall Waterfront Park during a religious gathering organized by Pastor Artur Pawlowski.
Pawlowski is a divisive Canadian clergyman known for his impromptu preaching on the street. He has previously asserted that floods in Canada came from God's displeasure with homosexuality and called the police officers who enforce COVID-19 safety laws "Nazis."
In June, he was found guilty of contempt of court for holding large maskless assemblies for church services in Calgary and refusing access to health officials.
According to the Portland Tribune, roughly 50 individuals attended Pawlowski's event, with members of the Proud Boys serving as event security. The religious ceremony lasted around 90 minutes before both sides began to get in each other's faces.
A video shows black-clad Antifa protestors with shields disturbing the event by throwing smoke grenades and grabbing the group's speakers in an apparent attempt to disable the public address system.
The Portland Tribune said that Proud Boys equipped with paintball guns, batons, and other weapons marched to their announced gathering spot in retaliation, sporting their characteristic black and yellow colors and PB emblem.
Before colliding and exchanging paintball bullets and pepper spray, the two groups can be seen arguing. According to the local press, the Proud Boys were evicted from the park.
The brawls resumed on the street around the block. In the background, police sirens can be heard, but no arrests have been made.
Wade Varner, a 64-year-old Navy veteran who served on the U.S.S. Fulton told The Portland Tribune that the Nazis came out and they drove the group off again he was passing through the park with his dog when he decided to get involved.
“I’m sitting here, totally unarmed, in a wheelchair, and this f–ker shoots me in the face with a paintball.”
Antifa had warned to start fights and do what they do, and then they turned up and did it, said one participant. The same participant added that the cops were not far away, laughing in their patrol cars and going about their business.
Antifa attacked a Christian meeting, right-wing pundits said. In contrast, left-wing commentators said it was a protest against a political event.
Antifa attempted to "assault & shut down a family Christian prayer & worship session on the waterfront," said Andy Ngo, a far-right commentator, on Twitter.
Reverend Chuck Currie of Portland responded by writing, "Christian minister in Portland here. This was no 'family Christian prayer event.'" A failed MAGA congressional candidate from California planned the far-right political rally."
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