Protesters clash with police, others at march in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD Racial justice protesters marched through part of Springfield’s Thurston neighborhood without incident for about a half an hour Wednesday night before they found themselves met with a wall of police behind barricades blocking their progress.

Another half-hour passed with taunts, chants and threats of arrest before police moved into the crowd to take protesters into custody, grappling with them and wrestling some to the ground. Five people, including a prominent Black Unity protest leader, were arrested during that skirmish with police and some others were injured. A counterprotester also was arrested for assaulting a protester, police said.

Several Springfield officers also were injured in the fight, a police spokesman said.

Before the march left Jesse Maine Memorial Park around 8 p.m. on the eastern fringe of Springfield, some who’d come, claiming their goal was to protect Thurston from riots and Antifa, had tense conversations with some of the Black Unity protesters there, but those conversations were nonviolent.

But when the sun went down and the protesters had made a loop back to the park after the confrontation with police, they were met with shouts, jeers and violence from bystanders and counterprotesters as they tried to break up and head home.

The protest in the Springfield neighborhood, which is about 100 miles south of Portland, was not the neighborhood’s first since the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer sparked a nationwide movement. But while Wednesday’s protest was meant to be peaceful, those clashes changed its attitude and turned the neighborhood into a local battlefield for differing world views.

Thurston is geographically distant from where most local protests have taken place. Many protesters came from neighboring Eugene while some were from Springfield. Thurston residents are largely Republicans, according to open source data published by polling and politics website FiveThirtyEight.

Springfield Mayor Chrsitine Lundberg did not immediately return calls for comment Thursday.

The protest

The racial justice protesters started filing into the park around 7 p.m. They’d come, at least in part, because of a Halloween skeleton hanged with a noose on a front lawn, which has since been taken down.

The skeleton’s owner and his neighbors told The Register-Guard the skeleton, along with other Halloween displays at the house, are up year-round. One of his new neighbors had told friends about her concerns over the hanged skeleton, seeing the display as racially insensitive and adding to her already skeptical view of Thurston.

An image of the hanged skeleton circulated on social media, including in the same post announcing the Wednesday protest, which was called “The Noose is a Nuisance.” The neighbors said they didn’t talk over the problem, but word spread and people showed up to defend both.

Around 8 p.m., the Black Unity protesters gathered in the street and started marching through the neighborhood. The march had elements now familiar after months of local protests: outriders on bikes, medics, vehicle support and call-and-response chants.

“Black Lives Matter!”

“Get out of your homes and into the streets!”

“Peaceful protest!”

Some Thurston residents stood in their doorways and driveways to watch the march go by. Black Unity Logistics and Events Coordinator Claire Reyna stopped to talk to several women whose gaze she deemed dismissive of the Black Unity message.

“The people out here that make you feel safe, the police officers you’re protecting and want to be protecting, they don’t make most of the people of color feel protected, and that’s a problem,” Reyna said on a loud speaker. “You need to care if you’re not racist.”

The blockade

The protesters continued their march until they reached South 68th Street and Glacier Drive around 8:30 p.m., where Springfield police were waiting for them behind a roadblock. The protesters crowded that barrier over the next half-hour, chanting over the police.

“This is an unlawful assembly,” a police officer repeated over a loudspeaker.

The protesters, in unison, chanted back “We can’t hear you!” and “Peaceful protest!”

Springfield police spokesman Sgt. David Grice said in a news release Thursday officers set up the two barricades at South 67th and Dogwood streets to keep protesters from reaching Main Street, “one of the deadliest stretches in Lane County.”

Grice said officers’ warnings to the demonstrators were ignored.

"Demonstrators began positioning themselves between the barricades and police vehicles and personnel. Additional warnings were given to advise the group they would be subject to arrest if they did not disperse,“ Grice said in the news release. ”Demonstrators continued to ignore police warnings and became increasingly hostile. Members of the group began yelling they outnumbered the officers and should push through our barricades. This prompted officers to begin making arrests.“

Just before 9 p.m., police moved in. The scene devolved into a shoving match. Officers and protesters went to the ground. Black Unity’s Tyshawn Ford was dragged away and arrested. A woman at one point grabbed an officer’s baton and he punched her in the face. Officers tried to use the barricades to push protesters back. The sound of a Taser hummed over the shouting, cursing crowd. The scene lasted about five minutes.

“Officers attempted to take individuals into custody and were immediately attacked by the demonstrators, who attempted to pull suspects free, kicked and punched officers, bit officers and threw batteries, full water bottles and other objects at officers. Multiple officers were injured during this exchange,” Grice said in the news release.

Grice said four people — aged 35, 20, 29 and 39 — were arrested on charges including interfering with police, disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest.

Confrontations continue

The protesters eventually composed themselves and regrouped farther down the road to complete their march. But as darkness fell, more people claiming to want to protect the neighborhood from protesters came into the streets to confront them.

“You’re not wanted,” one voice shouted at them.

“You’re in a residential neighborhood, dude,” said another. “Leave!”

That antagonism lingered even as protesters announced they were trying to get to their cars and go home. Back at the park, they argued and fought until about 10 p.m.

Grice said a 34-year-old woman got into a fight with a Black Unity protester and was arrested for fourth-degree assault. The Black Unity protester was taken to the hospital.

Springfield police officers ultimately came to usher cars out of the neighborhood, which many there saw as a victory over protesters who they treated like invaders.

As some of the last protesters drove off, they threw back at them one of their chants.

“Whose streets? Our streets,” chanted a crowd following them on foot.

Grice said Black Unity supporters were outside the Springfield jail around 2:30 a.m. Thursday waiting for those who’d been arrested to post bail. Grice said a 21-year-old and a 20-year-old were charged with criminal mischief for allegedly putting graffiti on the jail.

Contact reporter Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@registerguard.com or 541-338-2237, and follow him on Twitter @DuvernayOR. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.