PORTLAND, Oregon ¨C In the hours after U.S. President Joe Biden¡¯s inauguration on Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered for a series of events across the liberal city of Portland, Oregon ¡ª not to celebrate, but to mobilize for the struggles to come.
At one demonstration, speakers denounced Biden as a ¡°feckless puppet of the centrist Democratic establishment.¡± At another, crowds of anti-fascist and racial justice protesters made their doubts about the new president even more explicit, burning a Biden flag in the street. At a third event, several people smashed the windows of the local Democratic Party headquarters. ¡°We are ungovernable,¡± the group¡¯s banner declared.
While Biden has vowed to try to unify the nation and urged Americans to ¡°stop the shouting¡± after a bitter election campaign, a U.S. Capitol riot and a year of unrest over racial injustices and pandemic restrictions, the first day of his presidency concluded with a scene reminiscent of many under his predecessor: Federal agents in camouflage and riot gear moved into the streets of Portland, unleashing thick clouds of tear gas.
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