PORTLAND, Ore. — Downtown Portland businesses appear to have begun boarding up their windows again this week, bracing for possible unrest ahead of a nationwide day of protest called “Rage Against the Regime,” organized by the activist group 50501.
The protest, scheduled for Saturday, August 2, is part of a national effort involving hundreds of cities, according to organizers. The central event—a peaceful sit-in—is planned at the Capitol Building in Augusta, Maine, but solidarity actions are expected in multiple states.
The 50501 movement—short for “50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement”—has issued a press release citing what they describe as growing “threats to democracy and human rights.” The group lists concerns such as the “weaponization of ICE,” the construction of what they refer to as “concentration camps,” the “cover-up of the Epstein Files,” attacks on transgender rights, and cuts to government programs like Medicaid, SNAP, USAID, the Department of Education, and the National Weather Service…