Two people were arrested over the weekend after a sidewalk skirmish broke out between rival groups demonstrating against Oregon City’s first-ever Pride Night festival.
A now-viral video of the fight shows a cluster of people wearing the black-and-yellow colors of the Proud Boys using flagpoles and fists to force back a smaller group of masked demonstrators about 4 p.m. Saturday near the Willamette Falls Community Center at Washington and 15th streets.
Oregon City police Capt. Shaun Davis said the groups were already dispersing as officers arrived about a minute after the confrontation was reported.
There were no further fights or other incidents at the Pride festival, which was being held about a half-mile away on Seventh Street, he said.
“We’re looking into those videos that have surfaced on social media to see if we can identify people” and investigate any possible crimes, Davis said.
Benjamin Kesler, 41, and Debra Lumb, 52, were booked into the Clackamas County Jail on a single count each of second-degree disorderly conduct and have since been released, according to Davis and booking records. Lumb is the sister of former Gladstone Mayor Tammy Stempel. Locals previously said Lumb sent them hateful messages after they had contacted Stempel about right-wing events in nearby Gladstone.
The short scuffle in Oregon City has already cast a long shadow, with online rumormongers claiming members of the masked group shown fighting the Proud Boys were actually undercover agent provocateurs from federal agencies.
Chelly Bouferrache, a conservative photographer who was there and frequently attends right-wing demonstrations, said the fight was an intrapersonal beef involving a former Proud Boy. The ex-Proud Boy now leads a splinter faction known as the Rose City Nationalists, she said.
“There’s been bad blood between him and several other long-standing Proud Boys,” she said.
Oregon City Mayor Denyse McGriff said she heard little discussion of the brawl or any internet rumors as attendees enjoyed burgers and brews at the Pride Night event. She hopes organizers can work with Clackamas Community College to host a larger public event in the years to come.
“It was a lovely community sponsored and community inspired event,” she said.
— Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane
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