Portland May Day Rally 2017

Portland police swarm a location downtown to quell a May Day rally disturbance.

(Stephanie Yao Long/Staff/File)

I am a 73-year-old white woman from Lake Oswego. I went to the May Day rally in Portland with a younger woman friend. We were asked to help the Americans with Disabilities Act group in wheelchairs and on crutches in carrying their banner.

When the Portland police dispersed the crowd before the end of the march, we were all really confused. Some ADA folks were left without a ride, because their bus was forced to move by the police. My friend and I, along with about 1,000 others, were wandering around trying to find our cars and decide what to do next.

We ended up very close to police, who were throwing flash bang grenades. The noise was so loud we couldn't tell where it was coming from, and so we walked closer to the grenade action. I inadvertently screamed each time one of these very loud grenades went off.

We finally went to a restaurant to wait until things calmed down. But by the time we got back to our car the car battery was dead, because someone had bumped the car, and the alarm went off for hours. After waiting for assistance, we finally drove home.

We were more afraid of the Portland police than the Black Bloc. The police action was very poorly thought through, unless the police wanted to terrorize peaceful citizens and discourage them from coming to Portland rallies to exercise our first amendment rights.

I'm so disappointed with Mayor Ted Wheeler. I had so much hope for his administration.

Connie Harrigan Lee, Lake Oswego