Jeremy Christian, 35, was charged in the attack, in which Rick Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, were killed after they intervened to help two young women who were the target of racial abuse. The suspect in the light-rail stabbings, Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, attended a similar rally in late April wearing an American flag around his neck and carrying a baseball bat. FILE - In this April 29, 2017, file photo provided by John Rudoff, Jeremy Joseph Christian, right, attends a Patriot Prayer organized by a pro-Trump group in Portland, Ore. Christian, the man accused... (Associated Press) 
 
 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators and counter protesters converged in downtown Portland, Oregon, on Sunday, a day marked by multiple arrests and clashes between police and protesters. That rally was met across the street by hundreds of counter-protesters organized by immigrant rights, religious and labor groups. Rally organizer Joey Gibson held a moment of silence for the two men who were stabbed to death and pleaded with the crowd to refrain from violence.
– An alt-right "free speech" rally went ahead in Portland, Ore. Sunday despite the mayor's objections—and was met with three separate counter-protests on three sides. Around 3,000 counter-protesters, including labor groups and black-clad antifascist activists, gathered while a few hundred people, many with pro-President Trump signs, converged on Terry D. Schrunk Plaza for the rally organized by the "Patriot Prayer" group, the Guardian reports. Alt-right celebrity Pat "Spartan" Washington told reporters that he was "willing to use violence to make sure my family is safe and my patriot family is safe." "God, I hate them," he said of the counter-protesters across the street. "I look over there and I just want to smash." A wall of police officers separated the protesters and counter-protesters, though there were isolated clashes and police made at least 14 arrests, CNN reports. Police ended up using pepper balls and flash-bang grenades to disperse anti-fascist protesters, reports the AP. Mayor Ted Wheeler had urged organizers to call off the pro-Trump rally after the fatal stabbing of two men on a train last month. The suspect, Jeremy Christian, had attended a similar rally in the city in April. At the free-speech rally, speakers distanced themselves from Christian and called the train victims heroes, the Oregonian reports. "Mayor Wheeler says I spit out hate speech," organizer Joey Gibson told the crowd. "We've got to prove them wrong."