Proud Boys 'Summer Of Love' Rally Devolves Into Violence, Car Flipping, Shooting

Charming people, really.

On Sunday, reported hundreds of Proud Boys and Proud Boy-adjacent types showed up in Portland, Oregon, for a rally ostensibly meant to commemorate a particularly violent protest they participated in last year on the same date. They called it the "Summer of Love," so naturally it prominently featured Proud Boy leader Tusitala "Tiny" Toese discussing the violence he dreams of inflicting on trans people.

Tiny emceeing the "Summer of Love" event, threatens violence against trans people. Video by @_jlevinson https: //t.co/jrIENdBhRV

— Ryan Haas (@Ryan Haas) 1629670020.0 

Another hot topic was how the January 6 insurrectionists were all "political prisoners," which is very true if you completely ignore that any other political or non-political group that attacked the Capitol would also be going to prison. That's like me robbing a bank while singing the score of Sondheim's Company and then attributing my subsequent arrest to the teller's dislike of musical theater.

Counter-protesters had their own shindig nearby. For most of the day, aside from some yelling, they did not interact much with the Proud Boys.

And then, well, they did.

Via Oregon Public Broadcasting:  

Witnesses said the violence began when a white van attempted to pull into the parking lot where the "Summer of Love" event was taking place. Members of the Proud Boys later flipped the van over.

"This van right here that's on its side tried pulling into the parking lot, and all these Proud Boys gate security started hitting it with bats and busting the windows out," one witness, who did not want to be identified, told OPB.
The witness said people got out of the van and started to run away as Proud Boys attacked them.

"I saw this dude beating a woman. There was like two ladies that got hit. It was a nightmare, it was fucking terrifying," they said.

And here is video footage of that happening.

Proud Boys flip a van they say was being used to target their rally here in Portland https: //t.co/isXunBkBkx

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@Brendan Gutenschwager) 1629676244.0 

Here they are smashing a minivan:  

Proud Boys smash the windows of a minivan driving alongside the crowd in black bloc as they retreat to a nearby hig… https: //t.co/XIMhPhoD2g

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@Brendan Gutenschwager) 1629677673.0 

And here they are dragging a man out of his truck and then slashing his tires.

Proud Boys in Portland drag a guy out of his truck then destroy it and slash the tires. From @KOINNews https: //t.co/ijCnsmPxud

— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1629676267.0 

And then the guns came out:

After the violence ended in Northeast Portland, a man fired a handgun at what appeared to be a group of anti-fascists downtown. Portland police moved in and arrested 65-year-old Dennis G. Anderson of Gresham. He was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Video posted online also appeared to show someone shooting back after the man opened fire. Information was not immediately available on what led to the shooting. Police said witnesses may have removed evidence from the scene before they arrived.

If there is any acceptable use of a gun, using it to shoot at someone who has already started to shoot at you would have to be it. That and a zombie situation where you have to destroy the brains of your relatives or they are just going to keep trying to eat you.

So they’re just having gunfights in Downtown Portland like it’s the OK Corral https: //t.co/X8rD9M79xH

— Dylan Park (@Dylan Park) 1629697648.0 

Proud Boys and other "patriots" seem not to be aware that many activists on the far left are not quite as universally opposed to guns as many liberals are. If said Proud Boys want to prove how super macho they are by firing into a crowd, it is entirely possible someone will fire back on them. Which may have been what happened yesterday (it's not yet known who the other shooter was). Luckily, no one was killed, but someone could have been, and it sure sounds like it would have been the fault of that guy Dennis Anderson, the one the police arrested:

Portland Police 

Seems like a real nice guy. Nice people, in fact.

And now many of them will get to be nice in jail, in solidarity with their "political prisoner" friends from the January 6 insurrection.

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