Protesting George Bush in Oregon
1/5/22
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Chanting slogans against President Bush, about 500
activists marched through a Portland neighborhood Saturday to protest the
president's policies just before his arrival here.
"Hey George, we didn't like your dad and we don't like you," the protesters
shouted, alluding to hostile receptions that Portland activists would give
Bush's father when he was president.
The protesters -- many of them opponents of the war in Afghanistan -- had
planned to march to a job training center where President George W. Bush spoke
to unemployed people.
But police barricades and a line of riot police prevented the marchers from
getting close to the job center.
As the protesters milled around the barricades a military helicopter watched
them from above.
Three young women were cited for interfering with a police officer because
they refused to leave a secured area, said Henry Groepper, a Portland police
spokesman.
Arrested at the training center location were Kathryn Alsop, 22, of Portland;
and Shayne Weinstein, 21, of Portland. An unidentfied woman was later cited at
Parkrose High School, where the president gave a speech.
The march started from a park several blocks from the job center.
Later, outside Parkrose, mounted police cleared an intersection by spurring
their horses into a crowd of jeering protesters, pushing them onto the
sidewalk.
Nancy Vaught, 57, who stood on the president's route with her husband
hoping to snap a picture of the motorcade, said she was upset by the
chanting and hooting crowd.
"We're very disappointed in all this," she said. "We like that the
president is visiting."
The protest was organized by a peace group called Portland Peaceful Response
Coalition, which has objected to civilian casualties in Afghanistan and on
limits on civil liberties at home. But also among the marchers were activists
representing environmental and anti-globalization causes.
Some activists carried a large effigy of a businessman with a cigar in his
mouth.
One of their signs read "Election-Stealing Terrorist President Not Welcome
Here." Another read "Another Bush, Another Recession."
Bush's father, former President George Bush, used to refer to Portland as
"Little Beirut" because of the protesters he encountered in the city during
visits.
"He's going to experience the same thing as his dad," said protester Jim
Henry.
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