Portlanders turned to a local tradition Sunday to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Riding bikes in the nude.
Over a thousand riders, some naked, some with various amounts of clothing on, rode through the city in the rain over the weekend in what was, by all accounts on the ground, as well as many videos of the event, a peaceful protest.
One person who doesn’t agree with that characterization? U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.
On Tuesday, Johnson told the press that he had not seen federal law enforcement “cross the line yet,” but instead, he said, “What I’ve seen is the abuse of law enforcement by radical leftist activists.”
“Most recently,” Johnson went on, “the most threatening thing I’ve seen yet was the naked bicyclers in Portland who were protesting ICE down there. I mean, it’s getting really ugly.”
Though the people behind him appeared to stifle a smile, it does not seem that he was joking, because he went on to say that protesters have attacked officers and people have been arrested.
Federal agents have arrested about 30 people outside the Portland ICE facility since June, including about 15 people who have been accused of assaulting or attempting to assault federal officers. That has included allegations of spitting, punching, shoving, throwing a water bottle and kicking tear gas canisters toward federal agents who had deployed them.
Portland police have made 50 additional arrests, including for reckless burning, assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.
Portland police made no arrests outside the ICE facility Sunday. Federal agents detained at least one person — a clarinetist with a protest band who has been held in Clark County jail, where a roster listed no charges Tuesday.
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