Lewis & Clark College in Portland Set to Host Antifa Symposium Teaching Violent Direct Action, Anarchism, and De-Arrest Tactics

A private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, is scheduled to host a multi-day event organized by its Antifa-aligned Prison Abolition Club that critics describe as training in terrorism and radicalization.

Antifa has been designated as a terrorist organization in the United States.

Lewis & Clark College will hold the 5th Annual Transformative Action and Abolition Symposium, titled “Bad Trouble,” from April 13 to April 15.

The event, organized by the student Prison Abolition Club, focuses on strategies for “violent direct action” against the government, risk assessment to avoid prosecution, and running interference to stop arrests.

The symposium’s overview asks participants questions such as, “What place does violent direct action have in social justice organizing?” and “How can we critically evaluate the efficacy of our direct action decisions and strategies?”

It also asks how to fight “neoliberal co-optation” of resistance and learn from past “risk takers.”

Scheduled panels include:

• Anarchist Communique Readings: Participants will read and analyze Antifa and anarchist blog posts that claim responsibility for attacks, drawing inspiration from them.
• Grab Your Comrades Back Training: Instruction on how to interfere with lawful police arrests to “de-arrest” targeted individuals (also referred to as de-arrest tactics).
• Queer Activist Roundtable and other discussions on abolitionist organizing.

The event flyer explicitly directs attendees to “wear a mask, please,” and features imagery including a burning police vehicle with smashed windows, a gas can, flames, bolt cutters, and barbed wire.

One training session is set for April 14 at the Gregg Pavilion building on campus.

Journalist Andy Ngo first exposed the event on X, calling it “Antifa terrorism and radicalization training.”

Lewis & Clark College @lewisandclark in Portland, Ore. is hosting Antifa terrorism and radicalization training at a symposium on April 13–15.

They are directing attendees to hide their faces, and the training on April 14 at the Gregg Pavilion building includes reading claims of… pic.twitter.com/RGA34RrQB9

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) April 9, 2026

Ngo noted that Lewis & Clark College, while private, accepts federal funding through student financial aid programs including Pell Grants and federal Direct Loans. He later reported that the college appears to have taken down the original event page online, but an archived version remains available.

.@lewisandclark College in Portland, Ore. appears to be trying to hide its tracks about the Antifa terrorism and radicalization symposium it is hosting on campus on April 13–15. They took down the page online but here is the evidence I saved: https://t.co/LbFpiETxNs

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) April 10, 2026

The Prison Abolition Club’s official page on the Lewis & Clark website describes its mission as working toward the full abolition of prisons, policing, jails, and surveillance systems.

The college did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Post Millennial or other outlets.

Portland has been a focal point for Antifa and anarchist activity for years, including the 2020 riots that caused widespread damage and the more recent 2025 protests targeting the ICE field office in south Portland.

Those incidents involved assaults on officers, property destruction, and other violence.

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