A group of Portland based anti-fascists believe authorities have the “green light” to “use whatever force they want” after police killed a man who was under investigation for the shooting death of a member of a far-right group.
Police killed Michael Reinoehl, 48, in Lacey, Washington when trying to arrest him in connection to the death of a member of the “Patriot Prayer” far-right group. One police force says that while attempting to arrest Reinoehl, he pulled a gun threatening officers, but law enforcement accounts of the shooting are so far inconsistent.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr released a statement on Friday that described Reinoehl as a “a dangerous fugitive, admitted Antifa member, and suspected murderer.”
“Murdering someone basically in cold blood is a pretty clear instance of retaliation against political opponents by a state apparatus, and Attorney General Barr has already released a statement in which he basically praises law enforcement for having made Portland safer by executing Reinoehl rather than allowing him to escape,” the group said. “So it does seem as though law enforcement both regionally and nationally are being given the green light by federal and state authorities to basically use whatever degree of force they want in their interactions with anyone designated either an anarchist or ‘antifa.’”