My name is Tara and I am on the communications committee of Occupy Salem Oregon, 41 miles south of Portland.

Today was the RE-Occupy Party in Portland.

I drove to Portland today at 3pm and went on the march. We marched from Riverfront Park up to the South Park Blocks. We proceeded to Re-Occupy South Park Blocks and people set up tents and booths.

Early on 2 bike cops trying to physically take down a tent but they gave up and backed off.

At approx 9pm the police started warning from the bullhorn that we were in violation of the law and would be arrested, then repeated this multiple times so those that made a last decision to leave could do so. THEY FORCED THE CROWD 2 BLOCKS AWAY SO THEY COULD NOT SEE WHAT WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.

We passed around water bottles and shared legal numbers on each other’s skin with sharpies. We sat down and linked arms. People tried to create a barrier around the park but the riot cops mowed through swinging their clubs like baseball bats. The yelled “Move Back Or Get Beat”, then started beat up a young man standing a couple feet away. He flew up and landed on me and knocked me back hard, my head and upper back cracked into the fountain. This hurt. I saw many men connect with clubs, but they were mostly throwing us women around and sparing the clubs on us.

2 riot cops pointed at me and said, “Get her!”, they pulled me up hard, spun me around, then passed me to 2 other cops who threw me into a pile of protesters who had also been thrown. This happened to me a couple times until I found myself on the street being ordered to lay on my stomach, at which point they cuffed me with zip ties, tightly. The cops were carrying AR 13 weapons with live ammo.

Then picked us up and lined us up, 2 officers for each protester. They had a mobile processing center on the street where they did a search, bagged our valuables, fingerprinted us, and performed Polaroid mugshots. While in line I asked my officer if he would reach in my pocket and grab my chapstick and apply it for me, which he did with a smile (they aren’t all bad). We were the taken to a Paddy wagon that had 2 compartments with air holes in between, women on one side and men on the other. I think there were 6 of us women. One of the women’s boyfriends was in the other compartment and they kissed at the airholes. On the ride, we chanted, we screamed, and we sang Bohemian Rhapsody and damn, we sounded good.

They took us into Multnomah County Jail where they had set up a special section for mass protest arrests. They are trying to arrest as many as possible. Any who had been arrested at Occupy Portland before were held in jail. Any with warrants were held also. I was released at 11pm and told If I went back to South Park Blocks I would be held in jail, so I found  my friends (whole other story!) who brought me home safe. I was charged with Trespass 2 and Interfering w Police. I go to court Dec 29.

I am very sore in my places and my friends told me my nose is swelling and bruising, I had no idea my nose was hurt until then. Now, it hurts lol.I’m pretty sure I don’t have a concussion. We’ll see what injures show up in the morning.

THEY ARE DELIBERATELY AND CONSCIOUSLY HURTING ALL ARRESTEES.

I have no regrets.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON. I AM REAL, THIS IS REAL.