Balsamo recently spent an evening at the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland. Balsamo, who barricaded himself inside with federal law enforcement while 4,000 unruly demonstrators proceeded to attack the building as well as locations across the city, said that it was clear the area had turned into a war zone.
“The terrace outside the front door was littered with garbage, the steps leading to the courthouse splattered with paint,” he wrote. “A mixture of anti-police and Black Lives Matter graffiti covered the building’s outer walls and columns to a height of about 10 feet.”
Balsamo said that tear gas from protests the night before “still hung in the air” and “coated the floor with a slime that had been hurriedly mopped up by custodians earlier that day.”
One unnamed deputy U.S. marshal told Balsamo that he is shaken every time he has to leave the building.
“You open those doors out, when the crowd is shaking the fence, and … on the other side of that fence are people that want to kill you because of the job we chose to do and what we represent,” he said. “I can’t walk outside without being in fear for my life. I am worried for my life, every time I walk outside of the building.”
Another agent told Balsamo that the country has no idea about what’s actually happening in Portland.
“You see a lot of commentary on social media about, ‘Well, they’re wearing protective gear so that it’s not going to hurt them.’ Okay, I’ll put the same protective gear on you and I’ll throw a brick at your head and you tell me if you feel comfortable with that,” a senior U.S. Marshals Service official said. – READ MORE
Listen to the insightful Thomas Paine Podcast Below --