Violence and chaos swept the streets of Portland, Oregon, as a rampaging mob of Antifa members assaulted a group of Christians, including children, gathered for a prayer and worship event at the waterfront. The videos of the assault are now doing the rounds on the internet.
According to a report published by The Post Millennial, the Antifa hoodlums attacked a congregation announced by Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski.
Journalist Andy Ngo shared videos of the assault as Antifa members carrying shields and weapons attacked the Christians and yelled profanities at them. The black-clad Antifa members also damaged the sound equipment and attacked attendees with paper sprays and projectiles.
In the videos shared by Ngo, dozens of armed Antifa members dressed in black riot gear could be seen moving in to accost the attendees of the event. In other videos shared by him, members of the Antifa group could be seen hurling flash bombs on the streets and attacking attendees with an unidentified, gas-like substance that is suspected to be pepper spray.
Rolling clashes continued in the streets in downtown Portland as a right-wing security group dispersing a Christian music event is attacked by antifa. pic.twitter.com/NwiGsEVcH8
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 9, 2021
Some of the Antifa members even attacked people by flinging chunks of concrete at the people who were providing security to people dispersing the Evangelical Christian worship event.
Portland: Antifa throw chunks of concrete at the right-wing group providing security to people dispersing the Evangelical Christian worship event. pic.twitter.com/MrKWLp0UPX
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 9, 2021
In many of the videos that have gone viral on social media, Antifa members could be heard mocking the congregants, asking “Where is your God now?”.
One of the attendees described the hooligans of Antifa as “ruthless”. “Antifa just rolled in like an angry mob, started throwing flash bombs at everybody, macing everybody … rotten eggs,” she said. “They threw a flash bomb into a group of kids that were out there from four months old to like 10.”
A woman attendee of the family Christian prayer event at the waterfront in downtown Portland describes what happened when antifa attacked them. pic.twitter.com/OtbHVftDor
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 8, 2021
Another attendee, who helped pastor Pawlowski, who was sprayed in the face with mace, said, “Walked up to ask them to stop throwing things at the children…There are kids down there, I mean they’re toddlers and they sprayed me too.”
The event was organised by Canadian pastor Artur Pawlowski last month. The Calgary preacher had been infamous for his critique of lockdown measures that targeted places of worship. After he announced an event in Portland, the Portland Antifa groups and activists on Twitter schemed to take action against the event.
In a veiled threat against the pastor, a Portland Antifa member Melissa Lewis tweeted: “Welcome to Portland, you won’t like it here, pastor.”
A sound system was also destroyed by the far left rioters, who later hurled the damaged equipment into the nearby Willamette River.
As per reports, the Portland Police Department remained a mute spectator to the chaos sweeping the streets of the city, choosing neither to intervene during the incident nor interact with either of the groups after the situation took a turn for the worse.
Antifa has been involved in violent attacks since last year with very little effort by the Police to bring the situation under control.
