Oregon Police Beg Public to Stop Calling In False Reports Blaming Antifa for Wildfires
Robert Mackey
September 10 2020, 10:30 p.m.
False claims that antifascists are starting forest fires have been spread by supporters of President Donald Trump.
Robert Mackey
September 10 2020, 10:30 p.m.
FOUR POLICE DEPARTMENTS in parts of Oregon ravaged by wildfires — propelled by high winds across parched land during hot, dry weather in a changing climate — are pleading with the public to stop calling 911 to pass on unfounded rumors that antifascist political activists have intentionally set the blazes.
The false claims have been spread on social networks by supporters of President Donald Trump, who has spent months pretending that antifascists in the Pacific Northwest dedicated to confronting white supremacists are members of an imaginary army of domestic terrorists called Antifa.
Primed by that fear-mongering, the president’s supporters have fallen hard for internet rumors and hoaxes falsely claiming that antifascist arsonists have been caught in the act.
“Rumors spread just like wildfire and now our 9-1-1 dispatchers and professional staff are being overrun with requests for information and inquiries on an UNTRUE rumor that 6 Antifa members have been arrested for setting fires,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Roseburg, Oregon wrote on Facebook on Thursday. “THIS IS NOT TRUE! Unfortunately, people are spreading this rumor and it is causing problems.”
https://theintercept.com/2020/09/10/oregon-police-beg-public-stop-calling-false-reports-blaming-antifa-wildfires/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter
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In the Minneapolis protests after the death of George Floyd, the riots that took part were accompanied by organized "teams" that broke off and infiltrated surrounding residential areas. It took 2 to 3 days for law enforcement to figure out what was happening and to include the fact that there were outside groups and provacateurs involved in the resulting mayhem. That has continued to happen in other areas where peaceful protests were followed by riots after dark, such as in Portland, etc. Antifa is a movement, not an organization, but has become an easy target for rw conspiracy theories. Known groups taking part in the riots are Proud Boys, Boogaloo, Aryan Nation, etc that are related to white supremacist groups. It is time to take a close look at what is actually happening, not what is reported on social media. 
