City manager worried about clashes in Eugene this weekend; Trump says protesters ‘hate our country’

Presenter: Eugene city manager Sarah Medary said she is concerned about what might happen when a crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 protesters march downtown June 14. She responded to a question at the June 11 City Council work session from Councilor Greg Evans:

Councilor Greg Evans: I was reading (Police) Chief (Chris) Skinner’s update last night about the potential for some demonstrations around the issues with deportation. And I think that we are prepared for some adverse activity in the community. And do we have plans to respond to some of the things that are, potentially, going to be happening out there?

[00:00:44] Presenter: City Manager Sarah Medary:

[00:00:46] Sarah Medary (Eugene, city manager): Yeah. So I will be honest. I’m pretty nervous about the weekend, maybe because we’ve been through something like this before. And, you know, we have good relationships with most of the groups that have been doing protests and marches, and we have plans in place and staffing in place for the things we know about.

[00:01:11] The bigger concerns are: What are the things—associated activities that happen—that we don’t know about, or who who could potentially come here or not come here. So we’re planning for that. I’m nervous about it.

[00:01:23] Councilor Greg Evans: Well, it seems like the Chief has a handle on the bad actors (He does) that are identified, that we know of. (Yes.) We just don’t know who’s going to come into town who have nefarious intentions to create all kinds of havoc and other activities.

[00:01:43] Sarah Medary (Eugene, city manager): Yeah. Yeah, definitely, we’ve been caught off guard before. We won’t be caught off guard here. We know what’s happening. We can see what’s happening south of here. So we’re planning for it, we’ll be ready for it.

But if any of you have contact with organizers, they reach out to you or the mayor, you know, that to the extent you can also encourage people that protesting lawfully and safely is encouraged and supported. We hope it stays that way.

[00:02:15] Presenter: Speaking from the Oval Office June 10, President Donald Trump:

[00:02:18] President Donald Trump: We’re going to have a fantastic June 14 parade Flag Day. It’s going to be an amazing day. We have tanks, we have planes, we have all sorts of things. And I think it’s going to be great. We’re going to celebrate our country for a change.

[00:02:33] You know, recently, as you know, with World War II—the victory of World War II—I called up France, and they were celebrating the victory. Well, we helped them a lot, as you know. I don’t have to get into that. But I called up other countries that were all celebrating the victory. We’re the only country that didn’t celebrate the victory. And we’re the one that won the war, okay.

[00:02:53] If it wasn’t for us, that war, you would be in German right now, okay? We won the war. And you might be speaking Japanese, too. I mean, you might be speaking a combination of both. We won the war, and we’re the only country that didn’t celebrate it.

[00:03:10] And we’re going to be celebrating big on Saturday. We’re going to have a lot of—And if there’s any protest that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force. By the way, and for those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force. And I haven’t even heard about a protest, but, you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.

[00:03:30] Presenter: Eugene’s city manager is worried as the president of the United States warns that protesters will be met with very heavy force, as he calls them ‘people that hate our country.’