Site icon BikePortland

The ‘bike swarm’ is back: Ride planned to support N17 actions


Occu-bike.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Tomorrow’s ‘N17 – Occupy the Banks‘ actions of civil disobedience throughout downtown Portland can count on an assist from a cadre of people on bikes. A ride dubbed ‘Swarm the Banks‘ will look to play a similar role to the ‘bike swarm’ that made its presence felt at the big standoff at Chapman and Lownsdale Squares this past Sunday.

Here’s a snip from the ride description:

“As busy bees, we can fly through downtown and check up on the various actions of nonviolent civil disobedience, protect the march with our buzzing mobility, serve as a pesky distraction for cops seeking to break up the actions, and possibly even participate in actions if we need to rest our wings for a bit.”

Katherine Ball, seen here at
Occupy Portland standoff early
Sunday morning.

This ride was conceived by Katherine Ball, the same woman who spearheaded the very successful ‘bike swarm’. Ball was recently featured in a column by Steve Duin in The Oregonian. As someone who rode with Ball at Sunday’s standoff, I can attest to her positive approach and infectious enthusiasm for this movement.

To join Thursday’s bike swarm, meet at Salmon Street Fountain at 10:45 am. There will be an open discussion prior to the ride “to determine our exact tactics”. More info on the Shift calendar or on the Facebook event page.

Switch to Desktop View with Comments