60th night of protests draws crowd of 1000; federal police deploy waves of tear gas after some set off fireworks

Authored by oregonlive.com and submitted by ShadyMcGregor

A crowd of about 1,000 gathered in downtown Portland late Sunday for the city’s 60th night of consecutive protests against racism and police brutality after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd sparked a widespread movement two months ago.

What started as a relatively calm night devolved as some in the crowd launched fireworks toward the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. Federal officers responded with gas and crowd-control munitions.

Just before 7:30 p.m. Sunday, before the protests had begun in earnest, Portland police responded to a report of a gunshot near Southwest 4th Avenue and Southwest Salmon Street, near gathering protesters. Two people were taken into custody in connection with the incident, Portland Police said, and a third was hospitalized with a gunshot wound. Police did not indicate whether the shooting was related to protests, though one person was taken into custody in the park.

Portland Police also tweeted a picture of rifle ammunition magazines and Molotov cocktails the agency said it had seized from Lownsdale Square after a bystander pointed out a bag. The agency said later it hadn’t identified where the bag came from.

By the time a larger crowd gathered around 9 p.m., investigating police had left the area.

The demonstration drew a smaller crowd than recent nights, when protesters could be counted in the multiple thousands. Early in the evening, the crowd divided itself between the federal courthouse and the Multnomah County Justice Center, where a public address system was set up for speakers.

Loretta Smith, a former Multnomah County Commissioner and candidate for Portland City Council, appeared at the protest and addressed the crowd around 9:30 p.m. Smith led a chant of “Black moms matter” before asking protesters for their votes.

Later speakers tried to draw protesters away from a potential confrontation at the courthouse, where federal police have responded aggressively to attempts to breach the fence that now surrounds the building. “Let’s use our power to do something new,” one speaker said.

Just before 11 p.m., though, the speeches petered out and people began migrating toward the courthouse fence. Exterior lights at the building were turned off, and federal police had not yet emerged from inside.

Shortly before midnight, some in the crowd began setting off fireworks toward the courthouse, ratcheting up tensions on what had been an otherwise calm night.

Shortly after midnight, the exterior lights at the federal courthouse turned out and police ordered protesters to disperse, declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly. Within minutes, federal officers emerged from the building, firing crowd-control weapons and deploying gas.

Some moved away or left, but hundreds remained at 12:15 a.m. More warnings to move away from the courthouse followed.

The Federal Protective Service said on a loudspeaker that officers had been hit with projectiles. After officers retreated back inside, some in the crowd could be seen throwing glass bottles toward the building.

Federal officers deployed more gas and crowd-control munitions as the night wore on, and the crowd dwindled, though several hundred remained at 1 a.m.

Shortly after 1 a.m., a video stream from journalist Andrew Kimmel showed federal police lining up in the street in front of the courthouse. They then forced protesters away from the courthouse using batons and what appeared to be pepper balls and pepper spray. Federal officers could be seen detaining several people.

Officers then pushed groups of protesters into downtown streets, splintering the crowd.

Officers retreated shortly after 2 a.m., deploying gas as they headed back toward the federal courthouse.

Protests that began Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning ended similarly to many that came earlier, with federal and Portland police moving through the streets of downtown Portland using force, including tear gas, to disperse protesters.

Protesters toppled the fence in front of the courthouse earlier in the night after federal officers issued warnings about tampering with the fence. Protesters had thrown fireworks and water bottles over the fence and tried to cut the fence with power tools before being met with pepper spray and pepper balls. Shortly after, tear gas and stun grenades were launched by officers into the crowd of thousands. The fence had been reinforced with metal beams earlier in the day.

The Portland crowd included large groups of parents and veterans. One such man who said he served in Vietnam was maced, apparently without warning, by a federal officer as he spoke to officers about what it was like to serve. The video of the incident, recorded by journalist Andrew Kimmel, has since gone viral.

Showings of solidarity with Portland after the deployment of federal officers — and the escalation in violence they have brought — happened elsewhere Saturday. Demonstrations were held in Seattle; New York City; Vancouver, British Columbia, and elsewhere in the United States and beyond.

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Bizzle_worldwide on July 27th, 2020 at 01:04 UTC »

Now that we’re 60 days in, let’s all remember that all of this started with a demand that Police should be held criminally accountable for any instance of excessive use of force just as any other citizen would expect to be.

ShadyMcGregor on July 27th, 2020 at 00:59 UTC »

Maybe I am uninformed... but this situation has been going on for months and I don’t really hear of proposed legislation (not statements from random activists, but actual legislation) being put forth to reform law enforcement policies or make any substantial changes at all.

This whole thing feels to me like everyone is watching a tire fire burn while eating popcorn, with nobody interested in putting the fire out.

Edit: wanted to add, perhaps civilians should start pressuring our elected officials to actually do something. Whether that is writing to our local representatives or by other means (non-violent), the people who are supposed to represent us need to get off their ass. While the news channels are gleeful about this, because they just want ratings, this needs to be resolved. It is not just some little thing. The discord we are experiencing is severely damaging the country.

thegeiber on July 27th, 2020 at 00:15 UTC »

It’s a shame that all of this still goes on and instead of doing something about it, our elected politicians don’t do shit. We’re on day 60 for a reason. Do your jobs and acknowledge the problem.