Protester is grabbed by federal agents without identification and forced into an unmarked minivan

The US Attorney for the Oregon District called for an investigation into masked, camouflaged federal agents without identification who have arrested Black Lives Matter protesters and hauled them into unmarked vans – prompting outrage from local officials who’ve repeatedly ask officer leave the state. 

The investigation request by US Attorney Billy Williams comes as volatile clashes between federal agents and civilians escalate on the 50th night of protests in the city.   

The concerning reports coming out of Portland have sparked tension between President Trump and Oregon officials, who have repeatedly blamed any bloodshed on him after he deployed federal agents without their consent. 

And the actions of federal agents, who aren’t required to follow local policing restrictions, have prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to sue the Department of Homeland Security. 

But even so, protesters aren’t backing down and have created their own autonomous zone called ‘CLAT,’ or Chinook Land Autonomous Territory across the street from the federal justice center.

Williams on Friday said that he called for an investigation after circulating reports showed unidentified federal agents arresting two Black Lives Matter protesters without probable cause.

‘Based on news accounts circulating that allege federal law enforcement detained two protesters without probable cause, I have requested the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General to open a separate investigation directed specifically at the actions of DHS personnel,’ wrote Williams in the shocking statement. 

Video of the masked agents was shared by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, who condemned the alleged actions in a tweet and furthered his attack against the Trump administration.

In the footage, two federal agents wearing camouflage briskly walk towards two protesters on a desolate Portland street this week.

‘What are you doing? Use your words,’ the camera woman says, as other nearby witnesses question what the agents are doing,

The camera pans to show a protester, dressed in all black and wearing a face mask, with his hands up in the air.

Without any explanation, or even a word, the two federal agents arrest the man and escort him towards the unmarked minivan.

‘Where are you taking him? What is going on?’ witnesses ask the agents. ‘You just violated their rights.’

The agents place the man into the back of the vehicle and drive away.

A similar incident happened to Portland resident Mark Pettibone, 29, who told CNN that he was ‘kidnapped off the street in my own city for non-violently protesting and showing up in solidarity.’

‘About four people just out of the van that pulled up in front of me, and my first reaction was I tried to get away.’ 

Pettibone was walking with his friend, Conner O’Shea,’ when a group of protesters warned them about mysterious minivans stocked with federal agents driving around the area, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

‘I see guys in camo,’ said O’Shea. ‘Four or five of them pop out, open the door and it was just like, “Oh s***. I don’t know who you are or what you want with us.”‘ 

Witnesses have said that agents are also detaining people who are simply near federal property and it’s unclear if the people detained engaged in criminal activity 

Both Pettibone and O’Shea believe they were targeted for wearing black cloths, but O’Shea managed to avoid arrest while Pettibine was taken into custody. 

‘I am basically tossed into the van,’ said Pettibone. ‘And I had my beanie pulled over my face so I couldn’t see and they held my hands over my head.’

During this time, Pettibone said none of the agents identified themselves as federal officers or gave any detail about the arrest.

Pettibone, still blinded be his beanie hat, said agents drove around downtown a bit longer before they escorted him inside the federal courthouse.

‘It was basically a process of facing many walls and corners as they patted me down and took my picture and rummaged through my belongings,’ said Pettibone.

‘One of them said, ‘This is a whole lot of nothing.’

He was later put in a cell, read his Miranda Rights and interviewed by authorities. Pettibone was released 90 minutes later without receiving any paperwork, citation or reason for his arrest.

‘I just happened to be wearing black on a sidewalk in downtown Portland at the time and that apparently is grounds for detaining me,’ said Pettibone.

Pettibone’s incident comes after local officials were outraged over cell phone footage that showed 29-year-old Donovan La Bella, a peaceful protester in Portland this week, being shot in the head with a ‘rubber bullet’ while only armed with a music speaker.  La Bella suffered a fractured skull and bled out onto the concrete for some time. 

Trump had previously vowed to ‘dominate’ the protesters with federal agents after he displayed a heavy-handed, militarized approach to quelling protests. 

The US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that they were involved in some Portland arrests, but it’s unclear which other agencies may be invovled.

‘[Customs and Border Protection] will continue to arrest the violent criminals that are destroying federal property & injuring our agents/officers in Portland. CBP will restore and maintain law & order,’ wrote Mark Morgan, Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

But according to Sen. Merkley, such actions are things done by ‘authoritarian governments.’

‘Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters. These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end,’ wrote Merkley.

Merkley was just one of Oregon politicians to lash out at Trump, including Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who told the President ‘Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city.’

‘Over the past week, President Trump has used our city as a staging ground to further his political agenda, igniting his base to cause further divisiveness,’ Wheeler said.

‘Mr. President, federal agencies should never be used as your own personal army.’ 

‘This is part of the core media strategy out of Trump’s White House: to use federal troops to bolster his sagging polling data,’ Wheeler said. ‘And it is an absolute abuse of federal law enforcement officials.’ 

But acing DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, who visited Portland on Thursday, defended his officers actions. He claimed that his officers had been assaulted with frozen water bottles ‘from violent criminals.’    

‘Let’s get this right. “Protestors” imply they were peacefully exercising their 1st amendment rights,’ wrote Wolf.

‘Instead, DHS officers were assaulted with lasers and frozen water bottles from violent criminals attempting to tear down federal property. 2 officers were injured. Facts matter.’ 

In a 1,700-word statement, Wolf also said troops were sent in to ‘restore order’ from ‘lawless anarchists’ who’ve become ’emboldened the violent mob as it escalates violence day after day.’

‘The city of Portland has been under siege for 47 straight days. Each night the violent anarchists destroy and desecrate property, including the federal courthouse, and attack the brave law enforcement officers protecting it,’ he said.

His rhetoric matches that of President Trump, who has unequivocally sided with law enforcement in recent months and has referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as ‘thugs.’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also blasted the Trump administration for allowing federal agents to canvas the city without proper identification.

‘I thought we’d already covered this after the attacks in Lafayette Square: the US government should not be using unidentified federal officers as a secret police force to terrorize US citizens & violate their constitutional rights. This is outrageous,’ wrote Warren. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused federal agents of being ‘Trump’s secret police.’

‘Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti. These are not the actions of a democratic republic,’ wrote Pelosi.

‘@DHSgov ’s actions in Portland undermine its mission. Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.

‘First Amendment speech should never be met with one-sided violence from federal agents acting as Trump’s secret police, especially when unidentified. This is disgraceful behavior we would expect from a banana republic — not the government of the United States.’ 

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown appeared to summarize her cohorts opinions by suggesting both President Trump and Secretary Wolf are prioritizing politics over public safety.

‘This political theater from President Trump has nothing to do with public safety. The President is failing to lead this nation. Now he is deploying federal officers to patrol the streets of Portland in a blatant abuse of power by the federal government,’ she wrote on Twitter.

‘I told Acting Secretary Wolf that the federal government should remove all federal officers from our streets. His response showed me he is on a mission to provoke confrontation for political purposes. He is putting both Oregonians and local law enforcement officers in harm’s way.

Brown even suggested Trump was hypocritical and pointed out his notorious St. John church photo-op where peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square were cleared out with tear gas and alleged less-lethal munitions.

Pettibone said he plans to speak with the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU, but the latter has already taken legal action against the agency. 

On Friday, ACLU announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the DHS over the ‘flat-out unconstitutional’ arrests.

‘Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street we call it kidnapping — what is happening now in Portland should concern everyone in the US. These actions are flat-out unconstitutional and will not go unanswered,’ the organization wrote.

Kelly Simon, interim legal director with the ACLU of Oregon, added: ‘This is a fight to save our democracy.’

ACLU also filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Marshals Service and the Portland Police, who they’ve accused of unfairly targeting journalists and legal observers amid ongoing protests.

If won, federal agents would be held to far more restrictions than they do now.  Authorities would be barred from arresting, threatening to arrest or using physical force against journalists or legal observers unless it’s ‘reasonably known’ the individual committed a crime, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.  

One of the largest problems currently facing law enforcement in Portland in a lack of uniform restrictions and rules from local police to federal agents.

Portland Police Bureau officers and local authorities have been barred from using crowd control munitions against non-violent protesters – but not federal agents.

Federal agents have also repeatedly used tear gas, which has been temporarily banned from the Portland Police Bureau by federal court order unless they declare a riot.

Portland Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis told Associated Press that federal agents don’t coordinate with his agency and that ‘it does complicate things for us.’   

Last night, federal agents continued to patrol with little restriction and on at least two occasions used tear gas against Black Lives Matter protesters.

Hundreds of protesters gathered for a candlelight vigil, but some broke away to visit two nearby parks recently closed by the city.

They dismantled a chain link fence that surrounded the parks and moved them into the street, Oregon Live reports. 

Lownsdale Park, near the justice center, became home to Portland’s first autonomous zone this week. 

CLAT, or Chinook Land Autonomous Zone, first sprang up on Tuesday when protesters used flashing traffic lights, kitchen appliances, codes and other items to create a barricade. 

It is the same park where ‘Occupy Portland’ protesters set up camp in 2011 during the nationwide Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. 

Autonomous zones began springing up across the United States after the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement.  

The  first police-free zone appeared in Seattle, Washington with the emergence of ‘CHOP’, or the Capitol Hill Organized Protest. 

CHOP was meant to embrace community policing, but quickly descended into dangerous incidents and volatile nights that say a 16-year-old boy shot dead and a 14-year-old passenger wounded. 

Footage from the scene shows a number of protesters standing behind a barricade made of yellow caution tape, traffic cones and what appears to be a grill.

Graffiti in CLAT read ‘All Cops are B******,’ ‘ Black Trans Lives Matter’ and ‘f*** 12 our street.’

An account from PNW Youth Liberation Front, an anti-fascist and anti-capitalist group, shared posts that urged Portland residents to support the CLAT encampment downtown on Wednesday.

The post said that support is needed to ‘defend riot ribs and the autonomous territory…solid numbers are needed.’

They added that people inside CLAT were in need of barricades, shields, tents, sleeping bags and other materials to stay camped out in the zone.  

But that did little to stop protesters on Thursday night who set an American flag ablaze on a concrete stump where the infamous 120-year Elk Statue was damaged in early July.

Footage taken at the scene shows a number of people gathered around the fire as one person can be heard yelling ‘Burn, let it burn!’ 

And last week, a protesters were caught in a botched attempt to damage a federal building. 

Authorities on Friday did not intervene at first, but around 10pm announced over loud speaker that they were going to retrieve the fence pieces. Some officer emerged from the Justice Center, but soon retreated.

Later, dozens of federal officers reportedly streamed out of the federal building next door, while protesters stood several feet away near an intersection. 

Within minutes, federal agents deployed impact munitions, stun grenades and tear gas.

According to reports with Oregon Live, the protesters had not done any anything to prompt the aggressive response.

Portland Police confirmed that federal agents used a type of tear gas during the incident.  

By 11.30pm,  the crowd of protesters had grown to at least 500 people and chants of ‘No justice, No peace,’ echoed through the late night streets. 

During the protest, Black residents used a bullhorn to speak about their experiences with racism, and others used dismantled fencing to block the plywood-covered doors of the federal courthouse.

Some protesters continued to reinforce their blockade, but were sent back around midnight when agents threw a smoking device through a hole they cut in the plywood. 

A stun grenade had also been deployed around 1am, but it’s unclear what police agency set it off.

Although the groups of protesters would remain out in the streets into the wee hours of the morning, authorities attempted to clear out the area using force.

Rows authorities in riot gear, followed by Portland police vehicles, arrived to Madison Street  to force people out of the area. Some federal agents appeared in camouflage, as well.

They opened fire with pepper balls, used stun grenades and used gas to move protesters north.

Other protesters were pushed left, where at least one group of federal agents were reportedly seen near the group with Portland police,