Salem police sit by as Proud Boys take over Riverfront Park

Today the Proud Boys, a violent right-wing militia group, provided "security" for a gun rights rally at Riverfront Park here in Salem.

The City of Salem allowed the rally to go on without a permit, as I reported a few days ago. So members of the public had just as much of a right to be at the park as the Proud Boys and other people attending the rally.

But as you'll see below, the Proud Boys forced people to leave the park if they objected to someone being there.

Meanwhile, apparently there was nobody from the Salem Police Department or the City of Salem on site to ensure that the rights of everybody were maintained. Instead, the Proud Boys were free to bully Salem residents.

This photo is a screenshot from a video by "Behind Enemy Lines," a guy who, I gather, used to be close to the Proud Boys. No more, since his video shows him being escorted from the public park by a group of Proud Boys who ordered him to leave for reasons that aren't entirely clear.

The same thing happened to other people. Here's a post on a private Facebook group that I belong to by someone I know and consider highly credible. 

Just took a stroll through our Riverfront Park which Republicans and other fascists had commandeered for their meeting. A large number of men, mostly with sidearms, in Proud Boys uniforms, mainly military belts and camouflage, and also American flags and Trump paraphernalia.

 

The most noticeable aspect, which was my main reason for checking this out, was that there was absolutely no Salem Police present. Not only in the Park itself but also on the periphery, along Front Street. Not a one.

 

As I ambled through the venue I was accosted by a woman who demanded to know why I had a mask on. Then she demanded that I not take photos, and then insisted that I tell her my name. Turns out she was one of the "organizers".

 

After that I sat in the amphitheater area and listened to speakers, mostly Republicans. The atmosphere of hatred and blind, ignorant fury was unbelievable.

 

I was going to stay until Representative Nearman gave his speech but before we got to that part of the program four heavily armed and uniformed Proud boys sat down next to me and said they were going to escort me out of there, saying the "organizers" didn't want me there.

 

I naturally complied and as we were walking out I asked the one who seemed to be their spokesman what would happen if I didn't agree to leave as told, would they forcibly evict me. He said we could do it either way it was up to me.

 

Most of us, quite understandably, don't want to stay up at night worrying about these characters but at least believe that they have a serious agenda that involves violence and attacks on our governmental institutions. And the police will not be on our side.

The man who wrote that post is quite old, late 70s or early 80s, I believe. I can completely understand why he left the area when four armed Proud Boys demanded that he do so. But he was sitting in a public park watching a rally put on by people who, again, had no more of a right to use the park than he did.

It's disgusting that the Salem Police Department and City officials allowed the Proud Boys to intimidate citizens with zero police officers or parks staff at the rally to make sure rules were followed.

Like, not kicking people out of the auditorium/stage area just because the rally organizers or Proud Boys didn't like their looks.

Here's another post from one of my Facebook friends. SPD stands for Salem Police Department. MCSO stands for Marion County Sheriff's Office.

So the proud boys came to Salem to intimidate the folks enjoying our beautiful Riverfront Park. The SPD nor MCSO offered any security services. Citizens enjoying the park, or were looking to see what was going on were escorted from a city park by the Proud Boys.

And here's some Twitter tweets about the rally. The first one is from a journalist. UPDATE: Tim Gruver, the journalist, wrote a story for The Center Square, "Far-right groups hold gun rally in Oregon park, threaten media." Here's how the story starts out:

A weekend gathering billed as a Second Amendment rally in Salem led to far-right groups tied to the Jan. 6 Capitol invasion taking control of a public park.

The Saturday event, promoted online as "May Day 2A Rally," saw 100 to 200 attendees at Salem's Riverfront Park in a show of support for their Second Amendment rights. The Proud Boys, a "western chauvinist" group who have violently clashed with members of the anti-fascist movement, provided "security" and co-sponsored the event. 

Some carried semi-automatic pistols or rifles and "closed" the public park to media, though they had no authority to do so. The armed attendees threatened reporters, forcing them to leave the immediate area and report from a distance. 

UPDATE: This Reddit post just came to my attention. 

Just got attacked by a group of the proud boys in the river front.

I was walking past the fisherman statue towards the carousel with one of the kids I support when we saw a group of them walking by, so we cut through the grass towards the front of the carousel. I snapped a picture to post to snapchat and they started following me, yelling "give me that phone fucker." They started getting closer so we started hurrying to the gates. I had to stop when I got separated from the kid I support. They started shoving me telling me that I needed to go. One grabbed a hold of me so I tried to stabilize myself and one of them held me while a couple others started swinging at me. It felt like four or five were there but it was more likely only two or three of them involved in the scuffle. They smacked me in the head a couple times and got my ribs and back before throwing me on the ground. They wouldn't let me go back to the kid I support while she was still in the park so I had to walk along the train tracks and she had to follow me on the opposite side of the fence. She was being followed by somebody wearing a ballistic vest and holding a pistol at their side. We ended up back together at the parking lot by the gilbert house and they stopped following her.

Please be safe you guys

(after someone asked if they called the police, this comment was added by the person attacked)

I did. Police came by the house I'm working at and asked me questions. Dude spent the entire time basically trying to ask whether or not I was agitating them. Officer said "It's not normal for them to do that unprovoked, but you're not the first person they've thrown out today." almost verbatim. I don't expect anything to come of it

Comments

[Richelle Corbo]

Hmmm, so the Proud Boys used a taxpayer funded place for free; if only there was a name for this type of economic system. Then proceeded to decide who got to use the taxpayer provided space and denied people while wearing military style gear and weapons; if only there was a name for this type of "governance."

[Danielle]

One of two things. Either Salem PD stand WITH or in SUPPORT of the Proud Boys, therefore ignoring their job responsibilities due to political motivations OR They are butt hurt still that so many people are tired of their shenanigans and are calling for police reform, so they are ignoring their responsibilities to their community out of willful disregard so they can "Show Them what will happen if they redirect funds from the police" Either way, they are using their employment and positions of power, to bully their communities for speaking out or speaking up. I mean,.. any other job and that kind of childish behavior would get you fired. I guess we not only pay for their job,.. but we employ their fragile egos also. How about this,.. If you don't want to do your job AND follow the rules, quit and find a new line of work. It's summer,.. go be a fire fighter,.. everyone loves firefighters,... or,.. gym instructors, doubt you could handle anything customer service related based on your previous work performance, but we can find you something to do.

[Jack Holloway]

It's clear that the Salem police department has been infiltrated and taken over by these nazis, ku kluxers and other assorted sturmabteilung (brownshirt) psychopaths whose heads are filled with hatred, a room-temperature IQ and a white-hot resentment of anyone who is smarter and more knowledgeable than they are.

This is how it starts; this is how it started in Nazi Germany. If the city council does not take action to clean out the SPD and get these murderous morons under control then we will, eventually, see random mob beatings, followed by random murders, followed by mass murders, with the police standing by encouragingly.

Think it can't happen here? That's what they thought in 1930s Germany.

[Jack Holloway]

Regarding the information in the update above, the person following the man and child while holding a pistol in full view was most likely guilty of menacing, which in Oregon can be punished by spending a year in jail.

If the members of the Salem city council are too afraid of Salem cops to get rid of the nazis who are apparently in current control of the department, those council members should resign and let others take over who are courageous enough to do their job.

[Jimmy]

Demand the hierarchy of the SPD be fired.

[Morris H Lary]

Sorry, but the people wondering why SPD wasn't around when the Proud Boys took over a public park are the same ones that wondered where Miley Cyrus got off to every time Hannah Montana was onstage.