'Wall of Vets' join Portland protests: 'Enough is enough'

Content warning: This report contains details of excessive force by the police that readers may find disturbing

A group of military veterans joined Portland's Wall of Moms and Dads with leaf blowers at the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests on Friday. They formed a human barrier between federal officers and demonstrators at the frontlines of the protest outside the federal courthouse in response to the use of aggressive measures against protesters in recent weeks. Duston Obermeyer, a Marine Corps veteran, told The New York Times reporter Mike Baker that he and other veterans were "there to ensure our citizens did not have their right to free speech and their right to protest and right to assemble taken away from them."

"Our veterans are here specifically to support the rights of the protesters to protest," reiterated Obermeyer, who said he had been deployed three times within a decade when in the Marines. He revealed that he'd been at the protest a week prior when federal officers brutally struck a Navy veteran, who said he had approached them simply to ask a question. Speaking to The Guardian, the 42-year-old explained that he'd driven about 40 minutes from his home in the Molalla area to the demonstration that day after hearing about federal agents clad in camouflage grabbing and detaining protesters in unmarked vans.

Although he'd arrived with the intention to observe first-hand what was happening, as he watched a phalanx of federal officers shoot teargas at the crowd and violently push a protester to the ground, he realized he couldn’t stand by and simply watch. "They are not supposed to be coming and attacking protesters," said Obermeyer. "They didn't even give any warning, there was no 'hey you need to move,' 'hey back up.' There was basically them walking out and assaulting a protester just to prove that they could." Dressed in a Pokémon hat and Superman T-shirt—and a cotton mask protecting his face—he walked up to the officers and asked whether they understood their oath to defend the constitution.

Just a few feet away, US navy veteran Christopher J. David was asking the federal agents the same question. Instead of an answer, both men were doused with tear gas and when that didn’t deter them, batons rained down on them. While Obermeyer managed to catch it and push it back, David was repeatedly hit with a baton, breaking his hand in two places. Videos of the incident show him also being sprayed in the face with a white chemical irritant that he said, "felt like flaming gasoline." Meanwhile, Obermeyer recalled an officer sticking an automatic weapon in his face, while another shot him at point-blank range with an orange chemical irritant.

Although he has experienced being gassed many times during his time serving in the Marine Corps, Obermeyer said he wasn’t sure what they had used in this case. "I've never felt worse than I did that night after being sprayed in the face," he said. His eyes and nose almost immediately closed up and he started having a difficult time breathing. Others in the crowd guided him a block away to help him flush out his eyes. It took him three days to recover. Despite both being graduates of the naval academy, Obermeyer and David had never met. However, after more than 50 consecutive days of anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests in Portland and the deployment of militarized federal agents by Trump, both veterans simultaneously felt that this was the time to start asking questions.

"I'm not a big believer in coincidence," said Obermeyer. "I believe that we both have similar feelings because we come from similar places and we truly believe in the constitution as it’s currently written and as it’s taught in grade school. And this is a violation of constitutional rights." David explained that while he believes they both came out that day because of their time at the naval academy, which instills "a deep level of integrity" in graduates, he also felt that there was perhaps an even simpler reason. "We have the ability to see what is right and what is wrong. And what we both saw was wrong and we wanted to go out there and talk to those officers," he said.

While Clint Hall—another veteran who joined Friday's protest—said he came out to support the Black Lives Matter movement, he also criticized the federal presence in the city. Carrying a "Disabled Veterans 4 BLM" sign, the Army veteran said, "Things were getting better, and then they came here and made it worse. Enough is enough." He also voiced concerns about the tear gas that was shot into the crowd, explaining that it was so strong that it was leaving burns on his skin. Noting that it felt worse than the tear gas he recalled from his time in the Army, he said, "This response from the feds is over the top."