July 26, 2020 | 10:12am
Federal officers line up to deploy tear gas at demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Protests in Portland were declared a riot early Sunday as thousands breached a federal courthouse where federal agents are being stationed, according to police.
Throughout the night — the 59th consecutive day of demonstrations in the Oregon city — police fired teargas in violent clashes with protesters who retaliated with fireworks, officials said, with at least 26 arrests.
They declared a riot in the early hours after “thousands” gathered at the federal courthouse and Justice Center and pulled down some of the fence, the Portland Police Bureau said.
“Throughout the night some people in this crowd spent their time shaking the fence around the building, throwing rocks, bottles, and assorted debris over the fence, shining lasers through the fence, firing explosive fireworks into the area blocked by the fence, and using power tools to try to cut through the fence,” the bureau said in a statement.
“People wore gas masks, carried shields, hockey sticks, leaf blowers, flags, and umbrellas specifically to thwart police in crowd dispersal or attempt to conceal criminal acts. People against the fence sprayed unknown liquids through it toward the courthouse. People tied rope to the fence and attempted to pull it down,” the bureau said.
“At about 1:03 a.m. people in the crowd attached a chain to the fence and with many people pulling managed to pull a section of it down,” the bureau said, with protesters also lighting fires in the street.
“People climbed over the fence to get close to the federal courthouse. People continued to launch mortar style fireworks at ground level that were exploding near others.”
Images and words were projected onto the building including “Keep fighting. Keep pushing” as agents fired tear gas at the protesters, onlookers said.
The bureau said that “dozens of people in the crowd maintained this level of violence and tumultuous conduct and were either intentionally or recklessly creating a grave risk of public alarm.”
“Portland Police declared a riot based on the conduct of people in the crowd and gave repeated warnings that anyone who remained may be subject to arrest or citation and may be subject to force including impact weapons or tear gas,” the bureau said.
In the hours leading up to the riot declaration, thousands of people gathered in the city for another night of protests over George Floyd’s killing and the presence of federal agents in response to public assembly.
Portland’s police chief, Chuck Lovell, released a video plea for peace late Saturday.
“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.”
The force instead wants to focus on “the real relationships that will create change,” the chief insisted.
“We want to get back to the critical issues that have been hijacked by people committing crimes under the cover of the crowds,” Lovell said.
With Post wires
