Oregon Pro-Palestinian Group Takes Responsibility for Setting Police Cars on Fire

A pro-Palestinian group, named after a radical activist who died in Gaza, claimed alleged responsibility for torching several police cars in Portland, Oregon on Thursday.

In a post on the Rose City Counter-Info website, the group, which claimed to be the Rachel Corrie’s Ghost Brigade, wrote that it had “torched some” police cars belonging to the Portland Police Bureau at their “training facility.

Rachel Corrie was a radical activist from Olympia, Washington, who died after being crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in March 2003 while trying to protect a home in Gaza from being razed.

Corrie had initially become concerned about Israeli and Palestinian issues, and through hearing a friend’s stories, she ended up being concerned that Israel was harming people in Gaza by bulldozing their homes. She went on to join the International Solidarity Movement.

Her death was later ruled an accident. A judge ruled the driver had not seen Corrie and that she could have saved herself by getting out of the way.

“On May Day we torched some PPB cars at their training facility. We cut through a fence, set ten fires and are happy it grew to burn fifteen cars!” the alleged group claimed.

The group added that it had torched the vehicles for the “Haymarket Martyrs,” for “all the Black and Indigenous rebels murdered by slavers and settlers,” for all of the “brutalized student protesters,” and for the “Palestinian martyrs.”

“Our attack was preemptive. After seeing Humboldt, Columbia, UCLA and more we knew the occupation at PSU would be swept violently and wanted to attack PPB before,” the post continued.

Pro-Palestinian protesters had occupied the library at Portland State University for several days before law enforcement officials cleared the protesters out and made roughly 30 arrests, according to WGME.

The library at the university, which was left severely damaged, will be closed until the fall due to the repairs.

“While we respect the student occupations, particularly the ones occupying buildings and causing damages to the colleges, we hate to see them passive and waiting to be attacked,” the post continued. “Catch the police off guard! They do not believe you are free! Show them you are! Raid them before they raid you!”

The Portland police department said as of Monday seventeen police cars had been reported to have been torched in the incident, according to Oregonlive.com.

Police revealed in a statement that they were aware of the post from the alleged group “claiming responsibility” for the incident and were investigating, according to the outlet.

“The investigation into this online incident is open and active,” Mike Benner, a spokesperson with the Portland Police Bureau told the outlet. “Detectives do not want to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation.”