Father says daughter would object to use of name in destruction of Portland police cars

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — On a Portland blog, which describes itself as an “anarchist" platform, a group is calling themselves the Rachel Corrie’s Ghost Brigade and is taking responsibility for torching of 17 Portland police training vehicles on May Day.

A post reads, in part, “Our attack was preemptive we knew the occupation at PSU would be swept violently and wanted to attack PPB before.” Adding, “Above all we did it for the Palestinian martyrs! “

The group is using Rachel Corrie's name. Corrie was a peaceful activist who died in Gaza in 2003. We spoke to her father about the use of his daughter’s name.

“Rachel was known for standing up against injustice. She stood to try to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian family's home, and she certainly would not appreciate her name being used like this,” Craig Corrie, Rachel Corrie’s father, said from Olympia, Washington.

Rachel sacrificed her life in the hopes that she could save a Palestinian family from an Israeli bulldozer.

“I don't need the world to remember my daughter. I can do that for myself. But I think that Rachel stood for some good values,” said Craig.

Craig explains how his daughter had it figured out when she was just a child.

“She was trying to tell people that there is no other, we're all just family,” he said.

The group using Rachel’s name did claim to torch 17 Portland police cars, but it wasn’t the only destructive event last week.

"On May Day, you might be aware that we had protests that evening or a march from the South Park Blocks, and they went down Broadway, and there were several businesses that were damaged,” said Portland Police Chief Bob Day during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

That included a Starbucks and a Nordstrom near Portland State University.

Day showed a social media post showing calls to attack certain businesses.

“This, the bold statement of violence, and it's not behavior that is conducive with First Amendment speech,” he said.

The mayor of Portland, the U.S. Attorney General's office and the FBI are all backing Portland police.

“Whether smashing a business window or terrorizing ordinary people just because they are onsite doing their job, your behavior shows the community who you are and what you stand for,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said.