08/23/2002

By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer

Demonstrations against President Bush during his visit here, Portland's biggest street protests in more than two years, blindsided White House planners, a presidential spokesman said Friday.

It's not unusual for presidents to be confronted by small protests when visiting outside Washington, D.C. But demonstrations that result in the kind of skirmishes with police that erupted in Portland on Thursday have been rare.

A protester is moved by police in riot gear as they clear the streets around an event featuring President Bush, Thursday. (AP Photo)

"We did not have any inkling" that such a level of protest would greet Bush in Portland, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters traveling with the president.

Still, there were clues the demonstration could get nasty on the Web sites of groups involved in it.

Preparations for the protest were posted on the Internet as early as Aug. 7 and continued constantly under such headings as "Tear gas canisters cause severe thermal burns," "Bush to visit beautiful Portland in August, you should too," and "What happens if you're arrested for civil disobedience?"

The main site was posted by a group called the Portland Independent Media Center, which listed a hotline containing daily updates in protest plans.

On Thursday, an eclectic crowd of protesters that surpassed 1,000 chanted and screamed anti-Bush slogans, tagged buildings with graffiti and challenged police at barricades around the Portland Hilton where Bush held a fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.

Fleischer said Bush saw the protests from his limousine when he arrived at the hotel.

Republican donors trying to get to the Hilton were taunted and jostled by demonstrators and many had to be escorted in by police.

Demonstrators blocked buildings and streets, pounded drums and displayed a wide array of signs and body painting.

Police responded with pepper spray and rubber bullets and arrested six demonstrators. Several police cars were damaged during the protests, which lasted about seven hours.

The protesters represented peace groups, labor unions, environmental organizations, churches, low-income advocates and, overwhelmingly, just themselves.

They were irate over Bush's plan to relax environmental standards for logging, a possible war with Iraq, the U.S. stand on the Palestinian question and what they called rampant government corruption, among other issues.

Thursday's demonstration was the largest in Portland since a May Day parade spun out of control in 2000.

Oregon, and especially Portland and Eugene, have a decades-long tradition of demonstrations, and many of them turn unruly.

Bush's father, former President George Bush, used to refer to Portland as "Little Beirut" because of the protesters he encountered during his visits.

The Portland chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild on Friday delivered a letter to Mayor Vera Katz demanding that she fire Police Chief Mark Kroeker, claiming actions by Portland police were "atrocities against humanity."

"It looked like a policy decision to us," said the guild's Portland chairman Alan Graf.

The letter demanded creation of a citizen-driven police review board.

Katz' spokeswoman, Sarah Bott, said the mayor and her staff were reviewing film and videotape of Thursday's incidents.

She said the primary objective of the police on Thursday was to protect the president and that was accomplished. She said many demonstrators had important messages to impart while others were bent on being disruptive.

Police were brought in from three different suburbs to help Portland police on Thursday. Oregon state troopers were also deployed.

Bush was in Oregon once previously as president on a one-day stopover last Jan. 5, and also was met by protesters, although they were fewer, more spread out and lower-key.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)