On the evening of the 16th of April, a flyer had been put out on social media to “show up, bloc up, and be water” at Director Park in so-called Portland, Oregon. Earlier that day, the Portland Police had murdered another person, someone in a moment of mental crisis.
People were fucking mad and had been protesting for most of the day. None had really gotten super militant yet, until this. The crowd of almost all black bloc had gathered in a park downtown. A reoccurring problem at protests in the past had been press, and the sheer number of press present at protests but tonight there was significantly less, allowing people to feel freer to get rowdy. This, and the fact that the cops killed someone in our own city that day made people be a lot bolder.
As the black bloc gathered in the park, preparing move, we circled up and talked about what we wanted to see that night. It wasn’t much, but we reached a rough consensus on what direction to head, and on a shared opposition to anyone trying to swoop or film the bloc.
Almost as soon as the crowd started to move, windows started to get smashed left and right. Chants of anger were screamed, graffiti thrown up, Nike partially looted, and a fire was set on the outside of the Apple store.
Moving with militancy like a rushing river through the night! This night was a great example of being water, and caused high amounts of damage in a very short amount of time. The bloc turned frequently, and often went against the flow of traffic. This made it difficult for the pigs to police our anger, and it took them many blocks of broken glass before they could even get into sight of the march. It felt great.
With love and rage, stay safe, dangerous, and don’t get caught!
submitted anonymously