
Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles to Grab Protesters in Portland - aaronbrethorst
https://www.opb.org/news/article/federal-law-enforcement-unmarked-vehicles-portland-protesters/#.XxD9y_CwH4w.twitter
======
mey
Some additional context on the federal law enforcement situation unfolding in
Portland. [https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/07/16/oregon-gov-kate-
brown-...](https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/07/16/oregon-gov-kate-brown-says-
president-trump-is-invading-portland-as-an-election-stunt/)

------
causality0
This will inevitably lead to police and/or civilians getting shot when an
armed civilian responds appropriately to what appears to be an attempted
kidnapping.

~~~
ohazi
And because they're law enforcement, they'll respond with 10 times the
firepower, killing the armed/confused civilian(s) instantly and effortlessly.
They'll get away with it too, because, again... they're law enforcement, and
prosecutors are too scared to touch them.

Another risk is crazed right-wing vigilantes deciding to drive around in
similar vans+camo+guns to kidnap people for real. Law enforcement _knows that
people are worried about this_ , and are using this tactic deliberately in
order to instill fear. "Do I fight back, because these are racist gun-nuts who
are going to lynch me, or do I comply because they're police, and they'll just
let me go after they're done unconstitutionally hassling me?" Guess wrong and
you die.

This is terrorism.

------
sxp
> Video shot by O’Shea and provided to OPB shows a dark screen as O’Shea
> narrates the scene. Metadata from the video confirms the time and place of
> the protesters’ account.

It would have been nice if they linked the video.

[https://twitter.com/matcha_chai/status/1283328232033411072](https://twitter.com/matcha_chai/status/1283328232033411072)
was floating around reddit, but it might be a different video.

------
matthberg
There was a previously discussed posting of this article with a good few
points that was mysteriously flagged.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23866310](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23866310)

~~~
dang
When you see [flagged] on a story it means users flagged it, so that part is
no mystery.

Sometimes it's a mystery why they flagged it, but I'm not sure it's hard to
understand in this case. The topic is inflammatory, the comments are poor
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23867523](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23867523)),
and there's not much information to discuss.

------
jacobriis
This is terrifying.

First they came for the rioters destroying federal property, and I did not
speak out because I was not a rioter destroying federal property.

------
aneutron
Basically Gestapo.

~~~
lambdasquirrel
Maybe. They have much better PR. Since the concentration camps thing has
already been done, instead there is that prison-industrial complex, which
sounds a lot more palatable because gang violence and the war on drugs. It’s
as if we’re being held hostage in the sense that if we want law enforcement
accountability, then they’ll pull back the stops on the gangs — which,
arguably, is a problem perpetuated by the system, rather than being fixed by
it. And then on the other side of things you have boogaloo. I’d argue our
situation is at least as bad as the Gestapo because there’s all these strands
you have to pull apart.

------
coronadisaster
Unmarked cars are a small problem in this story but I still think that ghost
vehicles should be illegal. They are getting very popular where I live.

------
fortran77
Sometimes it's obvious why something is flagged. I have No Idea on this one.

~~~
coronadisaster
Maybe the police union is responsible.

------
jimbob45
Genius move if this is a one- night thing to scare protesters into not coming
out anymore...but it doesn’t sound like that’s their strategy.

Any more than one night and you risk deadly complications when citizens
prepare for abduction.

