“After last year’s issues with aggressive hate groups during the rally, we applied for and received a Downtown Program Fund grant from the City of Eugene to support the event with fencing, gated entry and the ability to better control an environment where tensions can quickly escalate. Our intention was to host a street fair with stage programming, including activist speakers and entertainment,” the Eugene Pride Team said in a statement.
“Pride was told on Monday by a liaison with [the Eugene Police Department] that should we not file a parade permit, EPD may not direct resources to support the march, and that if anything happened, it would be on us. They stated that any of our volunteers that were in the street could be viewed by EPD as engaging in disorderly conduct. This, despite the fact that EPD has provided traffic control for at least four unpermitted marches in Eugene this year, including a Charlie Kirk rally and march.”
Pride is a protest. Let’s not forget that.
You don’t cancel a protest because the authorities say they won’t protect you.
If they don’t want you to hold your pride march, that is all the more reason to march anyway.
The city leadership, which is fully co-opted by corporate interest, will cancel the march.
And when the people march, the police will arrive to arrest them for parading without a permit.
Then the city leaders can shrug and proclaim “We were very upset to see all these far left radical Tankies breaking the law. That’s not how you show Pride in our city.” Then the police get a budget increase.
And, after that, we get to see how many residents want to keep these hacks in office.
Hear hear!