MENU
SEARCHPortland police had agreed not to force the family to leave the “Red House on Mississippi” while negotiations were ongoing — as long as the street was cleared by Monday night.
Nearly all barricades blocking a stretch of North Mississippi Avenue in Portland were dismantled Sunday after a black and indigenous family struck a tentative deal with city officials related to their drive to buy back the house they lost to foreclosure.
Portland police had agreed not to force the family to leave the “Red House on Mississippi” while negotiations were ongoing — as long as the street was cleared by Monday night, OregonLive.com reports.
The barricaded area that activists called an "autonomous zone" was established after Multnomah County Sheriff's deputies and police tried to enforce an eviction order on the Kinney family.
Officers and deputies withdrew after violence erupted and the activists fortified the area, blocking the street and stockpiling weapons to use against law enforcement, including some firearms.
During his press conference, Mayor Ted Wheeler bristled at reports of some demonstrators publicly claiming the multi-day occupation led to a decisive victory for them as well as the Kinney family.
However, Wheeler was unable to offer assurances that such actions would not be taken by protesters in the future.
“I hope it is not an ongoing phenomenon, " the mayor said. “Our objective is to protect lives and end the occupation. And nobody should take this as an invitation to do it anywhere else. The end result could turn out very differently.”
