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Portland: authorities declare riot as protesters and Trump agents face off Portland: protesters bring down fence as confrontation with Trump agents rises
(about 4 hours later)
Police and federal officers deploy teargas around courthouse as confrontations continue Oregon city is focal point for media but confrontations seen in cities across the US
Authorities declared a riot early on Sunday in Portland, Oregon, where protesters breached a fence surrounding the city’s federal courthouse building where US agents have been stationed. The confrontation between protesters and federal paramilitaries in Portland escalated early on Sunday morning, when demonstrators finally broke down a steel fence around the courthouse after days of trying.
Police described via Twitter the “violent conduct of people downtown” as creating a “grave risk of public alarm”. Police demanded people leave the area surrounding the courthouse at around 1.20am and said that those who fail to adhere may be arrested or subjection to teargas and impact weapons. The federal agents fired waves of teargas and “non-lethal projectiles” to drive back thousands besieging the courthouse to demand Donald Trump withdraw the paramilitaries, ostensibly sent to curb two months of Black Lives Matters protests. The city police, who had largely withdrawn in recent days, declared a riot and joined federal agents in making arrests.
By 1.40am, both federal officers and Portland police could be seen on the streets surrounding the courthouse, attempting to clear the area and deploying teargas. Portland is now the focal point of nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. But many other cities are affected.
Protesters remained in the streets past 2.30am, forming lines across intersections and holding makeshift shields, as police patrolled and closed blocks abutting the area. Multiple arrests were made, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many. In Seattle, in neighbouring Washington state, authorities said rocks, bottles and fireworks were thrown at officers who used flash bangs and pepper spray. The police chief, Carmen Best, told reporters she had not seen federal agents the Trump administration sent to the city.
In the hours leading up to the riot declaration, thousands of people gathered in the city for another night of protests as demonstrations over George Floyd’s killing and the presence of federal agents sent by Donald Trump showed no signs of abating. In Oakland, California, after a peaceful protest, a courthouse was set on fire. In Aurora, Colorado, a car drove into a Black Lives Matter protest and a demonstrator was shot. In Richmond, Virginia, a dump truck was set on fire and police appeared to use teargas to disperse protesters.
Crowds began to march toward the city’s federal courthouse around 9.15pm, some marching from five miles away. A large group of demonstrators in the North Portland neighborhood paraded by the police precinct there, which was roped off and had officers in riot gear standing outside the building. In Portland, authorities erected the steel barrier around the federal courthouse after two earlier fences were swiftly torn down. The latest barrier was held in place by large concrete blocks and proved impregnable for several days.
Protesters paused outside a downtown hotel, where federal agents are staying, chanting “Feds go home” and yelling the names of black people killed by police. As protesters marched down the streets, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) posted on social media for people to not walk or block the street as they may be subject to charges such as disorderly conduct and interfering with peace officers. Early on Sunday, protesters attempted to bring it down with teams pulling on ropes, but the ropes broke. Then they used a chain, a section of the fence gave way, and the rest was toppled to huge cheers before the crowd was driven back by teargas and rubber bullets.
Hundreds of others crossed the Steel Bridge around 11pm to the courthouse, meeting thousands already teargassed by federal agents. “Fuck the feds,” shouted a young woman in a helmet and gas mask who declined to give her name. “You want war? We’ll give you war. We will win.”
The fence surrounding the building had flowers and banners draped across as agents emerged from the courthouse to inspect it. They were met with fireworks shot over the fence. Federal agents tossed canisters of teargas at the crowd, while people ran towards the plumes, picked up some of the canisters and threw them back over the fence. More than 5,000 people, one of the largest crowds to date, turned out for the protest on the two-month anniversary of Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer.
As some protesters attempted to cut the fence using power tools, streams of pepper spray were spewed at the crowd. But support for the latest Portland protests has also been driven by the president deploying federal agents to the city dressed in camouflage and using unmarked white vans to snatch protesters off the streets, a tactic the mayors of several major cities called “chilling” in a letter to the Trump administration.
At the nearby Justice Center, images and words were projected onto the building including “Keep fighting. Keep pushing”. “These are tactics we expect from an authoritarian regime – not our democracy,” the letter said.
During demonstrations the previous night federal agents repeatedly fired teargas to break up rowdy protests that continued into Saturday. Authorities said six federal officers were injured and one person was arrested. Saturday night’s protest began peacefully as two groups formed to stand as “protection” for the demonstrators, the Wall of Moms and the Wall of Veterans, lined up in front of the fence. A protester held a sign reminding the president: “You said you wanted a wall”.
Demonstrations have happened in Oregon’s largest city nightly since Floyd was killed in Minneapolis in May. Trump said he sent federal agents to Portland to halt the unrest but state and local officials say they are making the situation worse. Amid chants of “Black Lives Matter” and “Feds go home”, some protesters shot fireworks over the fence. Officers, drawn from the border patrol and US Marshals Service among other agencies, responded with teargas.
There were demonstrations for police reform and against the increased presence of federal law enforcement in cities across the country on Saturday. In Seattle, police declared a riot following large demonstrations and deployed flash bangs and pepper spray. Authorities made more than 40 arrests said 21 officers suffered mostly minor injuries. As the days have ticked by, each side has become more experienced in dealing with the other. Last week, protesters began bringing leaf blowers to drive back the teargas. Federal agents started using them too, setting off a strange, noisy duel and small tornadoes of whirling gas.
Chuck Lovell, the Portland police chief, released a video message on social media Saturday night calling for peace. Gas masks have sold out in Portland and beyond. One group is running a production line of homemade shields, constructed from cut-up plastic barrels. A man arrived dressed in knight’s suit of armour, which proved good protection against some of the projectiles the federal agents fire but was less convenient when it came to sprinting away from teargas.
“Across the country people are committing violence, supposedly in support of Portland,” Lovell said. “If you want to support Portland then stop the violence, work for peace. Portland police officers and police facilities have been threatened. Other demonstrators are copying the tactics of Hong Kong protesters and using umbrellas as shields. But they provided little protection once federal agents started firing rubber bullets and other projectiles, wounding several people. As the crowd pulled back, some protesters marched on the nearby Marriott hotel after word spread that federal agents were staying there.
“Now more than ever, Portland police need your support. We want to be with you in the community and working on the real relationships that will create change. We want to get back to the critical issues that have been hijacked by people committing crimes under the cover of the crowds.” The demonstrations are confined to a few, largely boarded up blocks of downtown Portland, around the federal courthouse, county jail and city police headquarters. But their impact has grown as Trump’s deployment of federal agents has increasingly come to be viewed as a political ploy to provoke conflict.
Late on Friday, a federal judge denied a request by Oregon’s attorney general to restrict the actions of federal police. The president has vowed to send a “surge” of federal forces to other Democratic-run cities, ostensibly to quell crime. The mayors of 14 cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, published a letter accusing the president of an abuse of power and alleging that “federal law enforcement is being deployed for political purposes”, amid suspicions that Trump is attempting to paint himself as a law and order president in the run up to the election.
The Federal Protective Service had declared the gathering in Portland that began on Friday evening an unlawful assembly. Harry Fones, a Homeland Security spokesman, said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon some people launched large fireworks, threw hard projectiles and used power tools to damage property. On Saturday the assistant US attorney for Oregon, Craig Gabriel, told reporters he supported the right to participate in “large and even rowdy protests” but condemned assaults against federal officers with “bricks, metal ball bearings, commercial grade fireworks”. He said several agents had sustained burns and other wounds.
Craig Gabriel, Assistant US Attorney for the District of Oregon, said that of the six federal officers who were injured, one suffered a concussion and another was taken to the hospital for burns. Gabriel said the US attorney’s office is “committed to de-escalating tensions” using the now toppled fence.
He said one person was arrested for failing to comply with orders. That person was later released without charges, bringing the total number of people arrested on or near the courthouse property since early July to 60. “The fence is the primary way that officers are seeking to de-escalate tension,” he said. “Before the fence was up, we had some violent agitators come up to the courthouse steps, come up to the front door, rip off the plywood and shatter the glass door.
“The fence was put up just to create some space. The fence was put up so that the peaceful protesters could focus on Black Lives Matter and racial justice.”
Now the fence is down. It’s not clear if the federal authorities will attempt to put it back up or try to build a stronger barrier. But its fall is only likely to encourage the protesters to keep up the pressure.