PDX Community Jail Support aided arrested rioters immediately after their release from jail. They set up a camp outside the central police precinct a… - Andy Ngo

When the SPD [Seattle Police Department] evacuated from the station on June 8, 2020, masked protesters stole city property—barricades, fencing, and more—to create makeshift barriers. These barriers became the official walls around CHAZ. A movement that has border abolishment at the core of its ideology immediately set up its own border to keep out outsiders. To fortify their barricades, armed volunteer allies moved in. They operated as a private militia complete with their own uniforms.

Between May and October 2020, there were nearly a thousand protest- and riot-related cases in Portland referred to the district attorney’s office… Of the 978 arrests and citations, over 90 percent were rejected for prosecution. The main reason given? Out of the ‘interest of justice’—whatever that means. Despite accusations of systemic racism and misogyny in the Portland Police Bureau, the majority of those arrested (77 percent) have been white and male (67 percent).

In many ways, being at CHAZ was like being among jihadists. To each other, they showed a lot of care and camaraderie in the form of mutual aid, and compassion but opponents to their political agenda needed to be destroyed.