Wheeler: Two parks by downtown courthouse cleared as part of plan for federal officers to leave Portland

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    PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — A pair of side-by-side parks that has been near the center of nightly protests in downtown Portland were cleared Wednesday morning as federal officers are expected to begin a phased withdrawal from the city.

Just before 5:30 a.m., Portland police officers gave anyone in Lownsdale Square and Chapman Square parks 10 minutes to leave or be subject to arrest. After the 10 minutes, officers began walking into the parks to clear them.

Police tweeted that at least one arrest was made.

Mayor Ted Wheeler tweeted that Portland police worked with Portland Parks & Recreation, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and outreach workers to clear the parks.

According to Wheeler, the clearing was at the request of Oregon State Police as part of a plan for federal officers to leave Portland announced by Gov. Kate Brown Wednesday.

Federal officers have been stationed at the federal courthouse for most of July. Since then, there has been ongoing tension between them and Black Lives Matter protesters.

In Brown’s plan, federal officers will exit the city in a phased withdrawal following an agreement with Trump administration officials.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf confirmed the agreement at first Wednesday, but then said the federal government needs to see the plan work and that federal officers would remain in Portland until the courthouse is secure.

Starting Thursday, OSP special operation teams and some uniformed troopers will start a 2-week rotation within the city to assist federal officers and the Portland Police Bureau.

In a statement, OSP said they will help “de-escalate the tensions around the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse, facilitating peaceful free speech and proportional response if criminal activity is observed.”

FOX 12 spoke with a protester who leads the “Wall of Vets” at the nightly demonstrations about their thoughts on the agreement. They said there are different groups of protesters and most have made efforts to stop the violence before it starts.

“Usually what happens is we have different people calling out the agitators, saying back off from the fence, get back, you’re not helping this message. And they actually do back off,” said Tessa Terry. “But because we’re starting to realize why they’re there, they’re literally just there because we’re near their federal buildings, I think we’re learning from that, you know, we’re learning that it’s taking away from the message again. So, we’re moving away from there.”

Terry agrees that without the presence of federal officers, it could dramatically shift the nightly violence in downtown Portland.

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