60th night of protests draws crowd of 1000; shooting reported nearby earlier in evening

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.

They gathered outside the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse, which has often become the focal point after an increased presence of federal officers began actively policing protests weeks ago, and the Multnomah County Justice Center, which houses a county jail and the Portland Police Bureau headquarters.

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.

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 gathering — coming at the end of a Sunday when temperatures downtown briefly hit 100, and remained in the 80s well into the evening — drew a smaller crowd than recent nights, when protesters could be counted in the multiple thousands.

The crowd divided itself between the federal courthouse and the 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, 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.

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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