On August 22nd last year, roughly three hundred far-right activists showed up to a protest in downtown Portland. Their ranks included Proud Boys, as well as members of Patriot Coalition and Patriot Prayer. The event was billed as a “Back the Blue” rally in front of the city’s Justice Center, which had been a focal point for months of anti-police brutality demonstrations. Some among the hundreds of right-wing attendees open-carried firearms, brought shields adorned with QAnon slogans and wielded hand-held weapons. These included batons, baseball bats and bear mace, a particularly volatile form of pepper spray originally designed to protect campers from grizzly bear attacks. Violent clashes with left-wing counter-protesters ensued (one of the authors of this article had his hand broken after being assaulted by a Proud Boy while reporting on the protest). Alan Swinney, a towering 50-year-old man popular in the crowd of far-right activists was filmed and photographed in the thick of the action that day. Swinney has “Proud Boy” tattooed on his right arm, although the Proud Boys deny he is affiliated with their organization. Video footage shows Swinney barking orders at the crowd while a reporter from Oregon Public Broadcasting tweeted a video he said showed Swinney shooting into the crowd with a paintball gun. Swinney was later photographed drawing his side arm and pointing it at protesters with his finger visible on the trigger. While police stayed several blocks away, there were multiple injuries in a brawl that went on for more than an hour. Eventually, left-wing counter-protesters assembled and advanced on the far-right crowd, forcing them out of downtown Portland. At the end of it all, one activist found a bodycam on the ground and picked it up. In an effort to find out who had lost their camera, they downloaded the videos that were saved on the device. These turned out to be videos that appeared to have been filmed by Alan Swinney, identifiable in the footage by his voice, his face, and when associates say his name.
Swinney was not filming on August 22nd, but had been recording during many other rallies, and during conversations with other activists, in the weeks and months prior. These videos, which the individual who found the bodycam subsequently posted to YouTube, appear to show that Swinney and his associates planned for violence in advance, often discussed potential attacks on antifascist demonstrators and spoke about how to fundraise for and distribute weapons. There are 12 videos in total. While all were uploaded to YouTube in September last year, they have remained unreported on until now. Swinney is currently incarcerated after being charged as a result of his alleged actions on August 22nd and at an earlier rally on August 15. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts, which include assault, attempted assault and unlawful use of a weapon. Bellingcat reached out to the lawyers representing Swinney to ask for comment on the bodycam videos and the details contained within this article but did not receive a response before publication.
via bellingcat: Bodycam Footage Shows Far-Right Figure Alan Swinney Preparing for Portland Violence