Widespread disrespect for the property of others in dogged pursuit of an agenda, plus a disregard for the rule of law, are attributes that differentiate a big swath of the radical Left from everyone else.
The February 2017 clashes in Berkeley, California, saw liberal protesters, including members of Antifa, set fires, damage property, and throw rocks at the police before a planned speech by Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos.
All in all, these individuals caused some $100,000 in damage.
But that was just the beginning.
More recently, a group of activists camped en masse outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon, to protest the Trump administration’s now-rescinded policy of separating children from parents and other adults at the U.S.-Mexican border, as local news station KATU reported. (See protesters make demands in the video above.)
The angry activists kept up their virtue-signaling for more than a month, wreaking havoc and destruction — until earlier this week, when police issued eviction notices and told demonstrators they had to leave the encampment or face arrest or citation.
The jumble of debris raised safety and biohazard concerns.
Most complied by Tuesday, though they initially said they wouldn’t.
True to form, the protesters that preach about social responsibility but feel little or no compulsion to be responsible themselves left such a vile mess behind that the city had to hire private contractors to clean it up.
Videos of the encampment revealed garbage, large structures, mattresses, clothing, and portable toilets.
https://twitter.com/KATUNews/status/1022169613432279040/video/1
Even more worrisome, the jumble of debris — including nails, needles, and feces — raised safety and biohazard concerns at the encampment, as several outlets reported.
Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw held a news conference on Wednesday morning at the site, as OregonLive.com reported. She said the police department “received 76 calls during the encampment … She also said the roads near the ICE headquarters were needed for access to medical facilities in the area. Outlaw also said the [protesters’] camp posed fire and biomedical hazards.”
“We knew we had to get ahead of it before it spiraled out of control,” Outlaw also said, as the publication noted.
Elizabeth Economou is a former CNBC staff writer and adjunct professor. Follow her on Twitter.
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