A top Oregon Republican said Monday he’s considering using militia groups for security purposes after a man directing anti-Muslim rhetoric at two women fatally stabbed two men and injured a third this weekend.
Multnomah County Republican Party Chairman James Buchal told The Guardian that recent protests have prompted members of the Portland GOP to consider security alternatives.
“I am sort of evolving to the point where I think that it is appropriate for Republicans to continue to go out there,” he told The Guardian. “And if they need to have a security force protecting them, that’s an appropriate thing too.”
{mosads}He said that might mean making arrangements that don’t rely on police.
“There are these people arising, like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters,” he added. “We’re thinking about that. Because there are now belligerent, unstable people who are convinced that Republicans are like Nazis.”
Buchal told The Guardian that he did not want to become involved with extremists.
The Guardian said The Three Percenters are described by Political Research Associates as “a paramilitary group that pledges armed resistance against attempts to restrict private gun ownership.”
The Oath Keepers have been dubbed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “one of the largest radical antigovernment groups in the U.S.”
The mayor of Portland, Ore., called for a “Trump free speech rally” to be canceled after a man directing anti-Muslim rhetoric at two women fatally stabbed two men and injured a third this weekend, according to The Associated Press.
Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) said he’s worried that attendees of the proposed rally and other similar events could “peddle a message of hatred,” the AP reported.
A Facebook page for the rally said speakers will include Kyle Chapman, who describes himself as an American nationalist and is an ardent President Trump supporter.