Were Portland Protesters ‘Kidnapped’ by Federal Officers in Unmarked Vans?

Conner O’Shea told journalists he started running when he saw mysterious, armed people wearing camouflage body armor jump out of an unmarked van as he was walking home from a protest in downtown Portland, Oregon, on July 15, 2020.

But his friend, Mark Pettibone, 29, was unable to escape the group of people in military fatigues that was later identified as a team of federal law enforcement agents operating under a plan by U.S. President Donald Trump to quell demonstrations against police brutality and racism in cities nationwide.

According to Pettibone’s account of the incident — which was later publicized widely in news outlets ranging from The New York Times to Fox News — the officers tossed him into the van and took him to a federal courthouse. There, he said, they held him in a cell for about 90 minutes without explaining for what crimes he was suspected, nor identifying themselves as law enforcement personnel.