A clarinet player was arrested after playing her instrument to the tune of the “Ghostbusters” theme song outside of a Portland ICE facility, which has recently become a site of daily clashes between federal agents and demonstrators.
Oriana Korol, 38, was playing “Ghostbusters” with her group — the Unpresidented Brass Band — during a massive protest outside the ICE facility in Oregon’s largest city Sunday evening when federal agents arrested her, her loved ones said. She has since been taken to a jail in Washington as her husband and bandmates demand answers about her arrest.
“Why are they targeting a clarinet player? A clarinet player standing on the sidewalk far away from the street, following instructions,” her husband wondered, noting they share a three-year-old child.
Korol was “peacefully protesting,” her band said in a social media post Monday. “Taking us citizens out of state to detain them without charge is a new action from the Feds and should be opposed.”
The Portland ICE facility has become a battleground in recent weeks for anti-immigration demonstrators and federal agents, whom President Donald Trump sent to the liberal city, which he dubbed “war-ravaged,” as part of his crime crackdown.
The clarinet player’s husband, who has not been publicly named, recalled the lively scene that quickly transformed into what he called a “frightening” one.
“It is a beautiful party atmosphere. Everybody’s really excited. Then the band hits into ‘Ghostbusters’, and then at ‘Ghostbusters’, that’s when ICE start storming in,” he told KOIN6.
Footage, obtained by the outlet, captured the musician face-down in the mud, with her instrument about two feet to her left, struggling as what appears to be a federal agent straddled her backside. A police officer stood next to the pair.
Korol later walked away from the scene, her arms behind her back, flanked by two law enforcement officers, the video showed.
She was arrested around 5 p.m., but her husband didn’t hear about her whereabouts until 2 a.m. the next day, only to discover she was being held at Clark County Jail in Vancouver, Washington, he told KOIN6.
“We’re not seeing her. We don’t know when we’re going to see her again,” he said.
Jail records show she was booked on Monday. It’s not immediately clear why she was transported across state lines.
Korol was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security and is being held on suspicion of assaulting a federal officer, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office told KGW.
The Independent has asked the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and DHS for more information.
Korol appears to be one of three people who were arrested near the ICE facility on Sunday, according to the Portland FBI.
Three demonstrators were arrested on Sunday in Portland for “assaulting law enforcement including for spitting, kicking and biting officers,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told KGW in a statement.
She dubbed the protesters “Antifa domestic terrorists and anti-ICE rioters” and claimed they were staging “die-ins” by lying naked in the street to block roads near the federal facility, seemingly referencing the group of naked bike riders who pedaled past the building Sunday.
“These unsightly tactics won’t stop us or slow us down — our law enforcement will continue to remove murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists out of our country,” McLaughlin said. “This chaos and violence will end under President Trump. Law and order will prevail.”
