One of the biggest protests in Portland’s history during the second Trump administration, a Presidents Day event brought over 1,000 people to downtown Portland. As the throng increased during a march across the Morrison and Hawthorne bridges, police had to temporarily scramble to keep it under control.
Before walking onto the Morrison Bridge at roughly 1 p.m. on Monday, the protesters, who were part of a loosely coordinated nationwide campaign in support of what organizers were calling Not My Presidents Day, first assembled downtown at noon. At around 2:15 p.m., the mob made its way back across the Hawthorne Bridge and down the Eastbank Esplanade to City Hall.
Before organizers encouraged them to return to the sidewalk, some 20 individuals moved into a traffic lane on the Morrison Bridge, causing police officers on bicycles to become very active.
Signs denouncing President Donald Trump’s and his specially appointed liaison, entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has been swiftly removing government personnel from the federal payroll, were carried by protesters.
One sign read: “No one elected Elon,” while another made reference to an online currency that Musk was pushing, saying, “Democracy doesn’t accept Dogecoin.” As the mob poured across the Morrison Bridge, several shouted, “Oligarchs are not welcome here. Stand proud, stand clear.”
Many in the audience, which was primarily made up of young families and elderly locals, carried signs that had been recycled from earlier anti-Trump demonstrations. For herself, her spouse, and two of their friends, Kim Osgood, a co-owner of Paloma Clothing in the Hillsdale neighborhood, had hand-painted yard garbage bags and carved holes for their heads and arms so they could be worn as a kind of poncho. Hers said: Tyranny/Love/Unity/Resist.
Having a sense of community and being able to come together makes us happy, Osgood added. We didn’t want our home to feel helpless. In the midst of this dismal political climate, we wish to boost good sentiments.
Several people in the audience pointed out that the demonstration had swiftly come together, was primarily spread by word of mouth, and lacked speakers or leaders. Rather, intermittent chanting began at various locations throughout the crowd, reverberated for a little while, and then faded away, only to be replaced by another chant that began in a different location.
Some participants appeared surprised by the shift away from City Hall and across the bridges, which briefly stopped traffic on Southwest Jefferson Street before entering the Southwest Naito Parkway bike lane and sidewalk.
Monday’s peaceful event was a far cry from the tense protests of the summer of 2020, when nightly protests over George Floyd’s death frequently ended in clashes with police and occasional vandalism, even though it was nowhere near the crowd levels of the 100,000 people who took to the streets of Portland for the Women’s March in January 2016, the day after Trump’s first inauguration.
Mike Benner, a spokesman for the Police Bureau, said no one was arrested and the bridges were still accessible by automobile.
Organizers with Fifty Fifty One, which claims to be a decentralized, quick response to the unlawful and anti-democratic actions of the Trump administration, said the protest was set to conclude at 4 p.m.
The Pacific Northwest is just starting to feel the effects of Trump and Musk’s mass firings, where hundreds of people have been let go from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington and the Bonneville Power Administration utility.
For The Oregonian, Julia Silverman writes about K–12 education. You can email her at [email protected].
For The Oregonian/OregonLive, Zane Sparling reports on court proceedings and breaking news. You can contact him at [email protected], 503-319-7083, or @pdxzane.
Beth Nakamura, a photojournalist from Oregon, contributed.
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