‘Wall of Moms’ Stand Between Portland Protesters and Federal Officers: ‘Moms Are Here, Feds Stay Clear!’

A group called the Wall of Moms (WOM) linked arms and stood between protesters and federal law enforcement Sunday in Portland, Oregon.

“Hundreds of people had gathered for the demonstrations, blocking roads, Portland police said in a statement early Monday. They said dozens of others ‘tampered with the courthouse fence,'” according to NBC News.

Sunday night, CounterPunch Editor Nathaniel St. Clair tweeted video footage of the group chanting “Moms are here, Feds stay clear!” outside the Justice Center:

The Wall of Moms is back in front of the Justice Center in downtown Portland, and they brought reinforcements. pic.twitter.com/7B26bCyBN6

— Nathaniel St. Clair (@NatStClair) July 20, 2020

“By midnight, protesters had torn down part of the fence that surrounded the federal courthouse and federal officers began using tear gas and other crowd control munitions to clear out the area,” according to KGW.

At about 1:30 a.m., several people lit a fire near the courthouse entrance and began adding debris to feed the flames, police said.

“Federal officers came out of the courthouse, dispersed the crowd and put out the fire,” the KGW report noted, adding that Portland police officers did not engage the crowds at all that night.

Some moms hold the line against a growing wall of teargas. #teargas #MomsAreHere #blacklivesmatter     #protest #pdx #portland #oregon #blm #acab #PortlandProtest #PDXprotest #PortlandPolice #Feds pic.twitter.com/vVlBZKRfFy

— Garrison Davis (Teargas Proof) (@hungrybowtie) July 20, 2020

Sunday on MSNBC, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said President Trump was trying to turn America into North Korea by allowing federal officers to remove protesters off the streets in Portland, according to Breitbart News.

Meeks continued:

This is the same kind of thing that I guess this president wants to go along with his good friends as he says, Vladimir Putin and Russia, something that you would think would take place there, or Kim Jong-un in North Korea something that would take place there. This is how they govern and operate, and I hoped we moved far past that.

However, the president tweeted Sunday that the government was trying to help the city, not hurt it:

We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it. Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2020

“The Radical Left Democrats, who totally control Biden, will destroy our Country as we know it. Unimaginably bad things would happen to America,” Trump wrote in a subsequent tweet.

“Look at Portland, where the pols are just fine with 50 days of anarchy. We sent in help. Look at New York, Chicago, Philadelphia. NO!” he concluded.