ANTIFA “demonstrators” forced a prominent Portland, Oregon, bookstore to close for the past two days. Antifa wants the establishment to not sell a forthcoming book by a local conservative journalist that details “ANTIFA’s radical plans to destroy democracy.”
Antifa protesters assembled outside Powell’s Books on Monday and demanded the store not sell a book by independent journalist Andy Ngo — Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy, Reason.com reported. The demonstration forcing the store’s closure continued on Tuesday.
In a statement from the bookseller, the store said, “This book will not be on our store shelves, and we will not promote it. That said, it will remain in our online catalog” for sale.
The store officials continued, “We carry books that we find anywhere from simply distasteful or badly written, to execrable, as well as those that we treasure. We believe it is the work of bookselling to do so.”
Ngo, the book’s author, tweeted a video interview with one of the demonstrators explaining why she wants the store to “stop selling that f—king book” that is set to release in print and digital on February 2.
WATCH:
"We have to show up every day until they stop selling that f—king book"
An #antifa protester outside @Powells Books explains that stopping the release of my upcoming book would be like stopping the historical publication of Hitler's "Mein Kampf." https://t.co/8NVTtQwYNz
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 11, 2021
When demonstrators arrived, the store quickly led customers out, fearing for their safety, and shut down the store.
Antifa have forced Powell's to close their store today and employees have evacuated the customers inside out the back door. They're protesting them selling Andy Ngo's book on their website. They announced earlier they wouldn't put it on the shelves.pic.twitter.com/HUwea0pdei
— Brittany 🍇 (@Brittany3l) January 11, 2021
Ngo tweeted information about the book being censored by the ANTIFA group.
This is the book antifa is trying to get banned: https://t.co/WEc6SGDAaM
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 11, 2021
Powell’s Books said they have received bomb threats in the past from people angered about other books they sell, the Washington Examiner stated.
Protesters claim the bookseller is “propagating racism and right-wing ideology” and that they are supporting a “fascist gravy train book for a Nazi-collaborating Portlander.”
On Tuesday, Ngo tweeted that the store had been shut down for a second day.
On the ground reporting in Portland suggests that @Powells Books has shut down again because of the #antifa protest. For a second day now, antifa have gathered in front of the flagship downtown location to demand the store ban all sales of my book.
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 12, 2021
Protesters claim they will return to the store every day that sales of Ngo’s book continue. The store is not stocking the book. They only offer it in their online collection.
Powell's, who bill themselves as the world's largest independent bookstore, has multiple locations in Portland; and their main store occupies a large building on a full city block downtown.
This was antifa's reaction to Powell's offering @MrAndyNgo's book through their website. https://t.co/gPnTuWL9MT
— William Hillis (@WilliamEHillis) January 11, 2021