Patriot Prayer talks Portland Antifa clash

Right and left clashed in a violent manner on Sunday in Portland.

The conflict began when the right-wing organization Patriot Prayer held a “freedom march” in downtown Portland to say goodbye to group member Tusitala John “Tiny” Toese, who is leaving the city.

RELATED: Patriot Prayer rethinking its approach to freedom rallies

Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson, who is challenging Washington State Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for the U.S. Senate, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that the march was simply about reaffirming the group’s beliefs in small government and liberty.

“The main thing was standing up for free speech and freedom and limited government,” he said.

At the same time, antifascist group Antifa held a counter-protest to stand against the Patriots. Violence between the groups broke out, leading to four arrests.

“A bunch of Antifa surrounded us so we were basically stuck, and that erupted in a bunch of violence,” Gibson said. He added that Portland police “kept stopping us and trapping us.”

Dori pointed out to Gibson that Patriot Prayer was not all innocent, and that according to video footage, people on both sides of the conflict were inflicting violence on one another.

“There’s a lot of guys that threw down yesterday that were on our side because we didn’t have a choice,” Gibson answered. “And I don’t like the violence, I’m never violent; I believe in non-violent resistance.”

Gibson said that in the future, the group has “to think about how to go forward” to avoid violence at the next events.

Dori noted that last year, Gibson had similarly stated that the group would have to consider how to avoid violence in the future, and asked Gibson if Patriot Prayer actively looks for confrontations and “want[s] a rumble.”

Gibson said that while he hopes there is no more violence at future rallies, it is necessary to keep standing up against groups like Antifa.

“There’s a lot of hatred in the air … Something has to change,” he said. “This is not okay that Portland is going to harbor this type of group and not stand against this type of group.”

According to Gibson, Antifa members secretly keep an eye out for people who speak out about conservative beliefs. He said that members of Antifa range from city government employees to elementary school teachers, but that they are very careful about hiding what they do.

“Everything they do is behind closed doors … I don’t think people begin to understand how much they go after people behind closed doors,” he said.

If anyone is too loud about right-wing values, Gibson said that Antifa conduct a quasi-witch hunt against the person.

“If you begin to be an outspoken conservative in that area, they’re going to go after your job, they’re going to go to your house, they’ll post pictures in your neighborhood” he said. “This is stuff that’s been happening for a long time; they just get people to … be silent.”

Gibson said his group stays active and public in order to stop this kind of political bullying.

“This is not okay; I don’t care what you believe in or who you are,” he said. “And you should be protected from these violent thugs on the left.”