A Portland trauma hospital’s emergency helicopters were forced to divert, significantly adding to their travel time, when local anarchists threatened to “ground” aircraft with laser lights — a federal crime.
Oregon Health & Science University told KGW that several air ambulance vendors refused to land on the hospital’s helipad Saturday evening because of the planned attack. The threatened interruption to air travel added 45 to 60 minutes of travel time for these emergency helicopters.
‘If enough lasers are pointed at the aircraft, we think it will not be able to safely stay in the air for long enough to continue to pinpoint the source for law enforcement, and numbers will make it difficult to focus on a single person.’
“For most patients, that will be an acceptable delay. However, for some sensitive situations, such as unstable trauma patients, STEMIs and strokes, the delay could have real impacts,” OHSU stated.
Rose City Counter-Info, an online anonymous anarchist blog based in Portland, shared a flyer advertising the protest.
“You’re invited: Laser tag!” it read. “Every night for weeks, we are forced to listen to the threatening rhythm of helicopter blades as the federal regime spies on us.”
The flyer encouraged readers to “mask up” and “go to a park, a field, or some other public place” to point lasers at “cop copter[s]” at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
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Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
“It won’t take many of us to ground the helicopters!” the flyer stated.
The blog post provided further instructions on how to evade law enforcement while engaging in this illegal act.
“If enough lasers are pointed at the aircraft, we think it will not be able to safely stay in the air for long enough to continue to pinpoint the source for law enforcement, and numbers will make it difficult to focus on a single person,” the blog post read. “Be ready to dispose of the laser if you need to — wear gloves and clean it with alcohol in case you have to toss it in a hurry. Consider taking precautions to keep DNA off of it as well.”
The Portland Police Bureau told Fox News that no laser incidents were reported that evening. However, the department said it did arrest one individual earlier in the week.
Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
The Department of Homeland Security vowed to stop “Antifa domestic terrorists” from taking over cities.
“We will bust their networks and bring every one of them to justice,” the DHS wrote in a post on X.
The website that shared the flyer has also recently doxxed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, posting photos of alleged officers and their alleged home addresses.
“We put together some posters for people to slap up around town. Name and shame these Gestapo clowns. No peace. No safety. Not welcome in our town,” one blog post stated.
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