Portland to protest Trump’s troop deployment in the most Portlandia way: a naked bike ride

Organisers of the local World Naked Bike Ride plan an “emergency” ride to meet the National Guard in the nude

World Naked Bike Ride
(Image credit: Getty Images)

In true Portland fashion, organisers of the local World Naked Bike Ride announced Wednesday that they are planning an “emergency” protest against President Donald Trump’s decision to send 200 National Guard troops into the Oregon city.

This move comes after days of escalating rhetoric from the president, who has repeatedly portrayed Portland as a city of chaos. Trump revived a five-year-old threat to federalise the Oregon National Guard and has vowed to use "dangerous" American cities such as Portland as “training grounds” for military personnel.

In speeches over the last two weeks, he referred to Portland as “a nightmare,” a place full of “people out of control and crazy.” On Sept. 27, he announced that “all necessary troops” would be sent to “war-ravaged Portland” to protect federal immigration facilities from “Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”

By this, the president is referring to the protests that are taking place outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

Oregon leaders, including Governor Tina Kotek and Attorney General Dan Rayfield, have pushed back fiercely, filing a federal lawsuit to block the Troop deployment and calling the president’s move “unlawful” and “baseless.

Portland residents, for their part, have long embraced the city's reputation of eccentricity, and the plan for a bike ride to protest the “militarization of [the] city” and greet the National Guard in the nude fits squarely in that tradition.

Details of the emergency ride have yet to be published, but if the event proceeds, it’ll be the third WNBR in Portland this year and certainly a very Portland response to the presidential order.

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Anne-Marije Rook
North American Editor

Cycling Weekly's North American Editor, Anne-Marije Rook is old school. She holds a degree in journalism and started out as a newspaper reporter — in print! She can even be seen bringing a pen and notepad to the press conference.

Originally from the Netherlands, she grew up a bike commuter and didn't find bike racing until her early twenties when living in Seattle, Washington. Strengthened by the many miles spent darting around Seattle's hilly streets on a steel single speed, Rook's progression in the sport was a quick one. As she competed at the elite level, her journalism career followed, and soon, she became a full-time cycling journalist. She's now been a journalist for two decades, including 12 years in cycling.

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