For the past two years, the city of Portland, Oregon has been terrorized by a series of increasingly violent clashes between Patriot Prayer, a right wing protest group, and several antifascist groups. The most vicious of these conflicts occurred on June 30, 2018; what started as a Patriot Prayer rally descended into a riot. Five people were hospitalized, one with serious injuries.

Antifascists contend that Patriot Prayer, while not a fascist group, helps “normalize” fascist street violence in their community. They point to the fatal stabbings of two people on a Portland MAX train by former Patriot Prayer marcher Jeremy Christian as one example of this. They also note that most of the male members of Patriot Prayer are also members of the Proud Boys, an SPLC designated hate group.

Antifascists point out that, while not openly fascist themselves, Patriot Prayer has marched with out-right fascist groups, including Identity Evropa. Neo-Nazi YouTuber Baked Alaska has given speeches at several Patriot Prayer events.

For their part, Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer claim that the antifascists are the violent ones. They accuse “Antifa”, as they are frequently called, of scaring conservatives and liberals alike out of exercising their free speech. Joey bills Patriot Prayer as standing against hate and in favor of open dialogue. To this end on Thursday, January 17, 2019, Patriot Prayer convened a flash mob outside of a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) meeting in downtown Portland. They were refused entry by the DSA...

...On January 21, 2019, Reggie Axtell posted a video where he threatens Portland mayor Ted Wheeler.

“I promise you this. Ted Wheeler, you and all your little masked thugs running around beating people up in the streets of Portland, your days are fucking numbered. You hear me? Your days are fucking numbered. Because I promise you this, Ted Wheeler, I’m coming for you you little punk. And all your little Antifa bastards, I’m coming for you fuckers too.”