Portland police decisions during 2020 protests spark new hearings and criticism

Portland’s handling of the 2020 Antifa-led riots is being re-examined as former police executives Chris Davis, who oversaw the bureau’s riot policy, and Anthony Passadore, who retired earlier this year, are slated for a name-clearing hearing. Observers claim the police’s minimal intervention allowed weeks of street violence, driving away residents and harming the downtown economy. Meanwhile, a teenage protester named Rayden Coleman, who plotted to behead and bomb ICE agents, received only three years of supervised probation, a sentence that Senator Mike Lee called insufficient for terrorism.

Federal U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli also disclosed that Benjamin Azariah Southworth, a 40-year-old from Los Angeles, faces federal charges for threatening to kill President Donald Trump and for cyberstalking. The article links these incidents to broader debates over policing, political violence, and First Amendment limits.