'Emergency' naked bike ride planned as Trump set to deploy troops to Portland
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the protest ride is being organized by an offshoot of the original Portland World Naked Bike Ride organizers.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — After President Trump announced plans to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland, a local group is planning an "emergency" nude bike ride in protest.
The organization, an offshoot of the World Naked Bike Ride group, made the announcement in an Instagram post on Wednesday, writing, “Emergency World Naked Bike Ride coming up in response to the militarization of our city. Plans are being worked on.”
While this "emergency" bike ride is coming in response to the National Guard deployment, generally, the Portland World Naked Bike Ride aims to promote body positivity and encourage decreased reliance on fossil fuels.
In Portland, the event splintered after the original organizers decided not to host an event in 2024. A smaller group hosted their own version instead, resulting in two separate rides last year. The upcoming event is hosted by the offshoot group.
The original group, however, isn't exactly against the offshoot's plan's for a protest ride.
“As a longstanding protest, we believe strongly in the power of people, and love that Portlanders use bikes (and sometimes their bodies) to stand up for justice and community,” the original Portland World Naked Bike Ride group said in a statement issued Thursday.
The upcoming event is being organized in response to President Donald Trump announcing in a Truth Social post on Sunday that he planned to bring troops to Portland with the intent to use “full force," and claimed “Antifa and the radical left anarchists” have been attacking federal officers outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
Following Trump's Truth Social post, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum calling 200 members of the state’s National Guard into federal service.
During a press conference Monday, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said the Portland Police Bureau is managing the protests outside of Portland's ICE facility while complying with sanctuary city laws, which state that officers will not aid federal immigration enforcement efforts. In text messages to the president, the governor called the deployment "unlawful" and "unwarranted."
The Oregon Military Department told Nexstar's KOIN that the city could see boots on the ground as early as Thursday; however, military officials later said that timeline could be delayed.
In response to the deployment, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a temporary restraining order on Monday, challenging the president's call for federal troops in Portland, saying the decision is “unlawful” and poses a “substantial risk” to its residents.