Caesar the 'no drama llama' went to a Black Lives Matter protest and police almost teargassed him

Good news: a llama made an appearance at Portland Black Lives Matter protest.

Bad news: it was reportedly nearly teargassed by police as demonstrators were met by force on the sixth day of protests in Oregon’s largest city.

The llama was spotted by several social media users and attendees of the Portland protest.

He was quickly identified as Caesar, the “no drama llama”, touted as “Oregon’s celebrity camelid”.

On Caesar’s social media profiles (where his pronouns are given as 'he/him'), he’s listed as a “therapy/charity #llamaactivist”, invested in protecting & promoting civil rights for all”.

He’s a big ally of the Black Lives Matter movement, urging followers to support the work of activists in Salem, Oregon.

So his presence at the protest yesterday wasn’t out of character.

But even for a city which carries the slogan “Keep Portland Weird”, the appearance of a llama at a civil rights protest was a surprise for some residents.

But welcome.

People said Caesar was doing more than some humans had been.

There were even adapted protest chants.

However, despite peaceful protesters, as the night wore on police began to use force to make crowds disperse.

Flash grenades and tear gas were fired on large crowds gathered by a fence blocking people from accessing downtown Portland.

A local source tells indy100 that Caesar narrowly escaped being teargassed.

Which is just as well, because there were threats of serious repercussions if he was.

Caesar’s handler is Larry McCool, owner of Mystic Llama Farm in Jefferson, Oregon.

In an interview with Oregon Live in December 2019, he spoke of Caesar’s “unique people skills”.

“I’ve been to many, many shows around the country, I’ve seen hundreds if not thousands of llamas, and I’ve never seen a llama that has the personality and the love that [Caesar] has for people,” McCool said.

He is just bulletproof, he can handle anything. We go into schools and we go into nursing homes, and he’s hugged by 50 first graders at the same time. And he’s so patient, he’ll stand there all day long and let them hug him.

The Black Lives Matter demonstration is not Caesar’s first political event. According to McCool, Caesar – who is a confirmed Democrat– “frequently” attends rallies like the Women’s March and Planned Parenthood events.

In an interview at the protest, McCool explained the decision to bring Caesar along, saying:

Caesar has no voice of his own but even more people don't have a voice, so he's here to represent the voiceless. The ones who feel left out in society and life.

What an ally to have.