Antifa attacks Christians at Portland event featuring Pastor Artur Pawlowski; cops do not intervene

Several Christians who gathered to hear a renowned pastor speak at an event in Portland on Saturday were reportedly ambushed by several members of a local Antifa chapter, with some victims claiming that children and toddlers were among those who were attacked.

Video of the incidents showed groups of Antifa dressed in black bloc assailing families and children with projectiles and pepper spray, as well as destroying sound equipment at the event which was held along the riverfront in the city.

The event, which was announced last month, featured Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski who has become well-known over the past year for his highly publicized pushback against lockdowns and restrictions against church and worship services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the announcement, Antifa members and leaders took to social media to call for and organized direct action against participants, the Post Millennial reported.

“Welcome to Portland, you won’t like it here, pastor,” one local Antifa member, Melissa Lewis, tweeted, according to the outlet.

During the melee, no Portland police officers stepped in to protect the crowd from the attackers, the outlet reported.

Andy Ngo, an editor for the Post Millennial and a Portland resident, posted video of the assaults and interviewed victims.

“Shocking video recorded in Portland show a large group of antifa carrying shields & weapons move in to attack & shut down a family Christian prayer & worship event on the waterfront. Police did not intervene,” Ngo wrote in one video post.

“Where is your God now?” one person can be heard saying in one of the videos.

Antifa members were also seen becoming very aggressive towards some of the event attendees, moving at them in a threatening manner before destroying sound equipment and spraying chemical agents.

“We were about to have a worship event and Antifa just rolled in like an angry mob [and] started throwing flash bombs at everybody, macing everybody,” one woman who was attacked and witnessed the incidents told an interviewer, adding that she and others were also pelted with rotten eggs and sprayed with black paint.

“They threw a flash bomb into a group of kids,” she continued, estimating that the children ranged in age from around four months to 10 years old. “Yeah, they were ruthless.”

“According to one of the militant antifa members who witnessed the violent direct action, antifa threw the Christian group’s sound equipment into the Willamette River. The attendees, which included children, were hit with projectiles & pepper spray,” Ngo wrote in another tweet.

“According to this antifa account, after assaulting the attendees of the Portland family Christian prayer event, they stole their food and water,” he added.

As for Pawlowski, he has been hailed as an “absolute legend” in Canada and in the U.S. for his dogged opposition to government lockdowns and worship restrictions during the pandemic.

He was arrested in May by a group of heavily armed Canadian police for holding in-person church service.

Video posted online during the arrest showed Pawlowski on his knees in the middle of a rain-soaked highway with vehicles passing by as officers handcuffed him and dragged him to a waiting patrol vehicle after he refused to stand up.

“It is important to understand that law enforcement recognizes people’s desire to participate in faith-based gatherings as well as the right to protest. However, as we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, we all must comply with public health orders in order to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing” Calgary Police said at the time.

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