Police have clashed with protesters in Seattle, Oakland and Richmond amid a wave of public anger over President Donald Trump’s planned “surge” of federal agents into major cities.
Police in Seattle used flashbang grenades and pepper spray against protesters who set fire to construction trailers outside a youth jail
The sounds of repeated small detonations rang out in the streets of the city in Washington state, and smoke rose from an area where demonstrators had set fire to trailers by a construction site for the youth detention facility.
Demonstrators slashed car tires and smashed trailer windows.
Police in riot gear faced off against the demonstrators, some of whom held up umbrellas against falling pellets of pepper spray.
The Seattle Times newspaper quoted police as saying 16 people were arrested on suspicion of assault against officers, obstruction and failure to disperse.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he expanded the deployment of federal police to Seattle, enraging local officials.
Seattle Police said on Twitter they were working to secure access to the fire for the city’s fire department. Police said that about a dozen people who were part of a large group of demonstrators had set the fires at the King County facility.
By 10 p.m.(0500 GMT), police had “made 45 arrests in connection with today’s riot in the East Precinct,” the Seattle Police wrote in a Twitter post.
It said “21 officers sustained injuries after being struck by bricks, rocks mortars/other explosives. Most officers were able to return to duty. One was treated at a hospital for a knee injury.”
The protests in Seattle were being carried out in part to show solidarity with demonstrations in Portland, where anti-racism protests have been running for nearly 60 straight days.
“We saw what was happening in Portland and we wanted to make sure in our city we were standing in solidarity with other mums,” said Lhorna Murray, who attended on behalf of the newly formed Wall of Moms Seattle, replicating a tactic from the Portland protests where mothers dressed in yellow form a human wall between protesters and law enforcement.
A city dump truck was set on fire as protesters faced off with police in Virginia’s capital during a demonstration which was also in support of protesters in Portland.
Virginia State Police and Richmond police worked to clear the crowd of a several hundred demonstrators late on Saturday. City police declared an “unlawful assembly” around 11 pm, and what appeared to be tear gas was deployed to disperse the group.
Saturday’s protest in Richmond started at a park and then demonstrators marched to police headquarters, according to news outlets.
Police tweeted a photo of rocks, batteries and other items the department said were thrown at its officers during the protest. A video also showed an officer extinguishing a mattress on fire in the middle of a road.
Glass windows were also shattered at a Chipotle restaurant and a Virginia Commonwealth University dorm, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
In California, protesters set fire to a courthouse, damaged a police station and assaulted officers after a peaceful demonstration intensified late on Saturday, Oakland police said.
Demonstrators broke windows, spray painted graffiti, shot fireworks and pointed lasers at officers, the Oakland department said on Twitter. Several tweets called for peace and asked organisers to “help us provide safe spaces and safe places for demonstrators.”
The protest began earlier on Saturday evening with groups such as the “Wall of Moms” as protesters faced off with US agents deployed to that city to guard a federal courthouse.
The protest in Oakland began peacefully, but turned violent later into the night. An “unlawful assembly” was declared by police around 11:30pm and officers asked the crowd to disperse.
The fire broke out at the Alameda County Superior Courthouse and was contained a short time later, news outlets reported. Police said protesters at one point were “breaking windows and chanting racial slurs at residents”. Photos tweeted by the department showed broken glass and paint splattered at a police building.
The heavy handed tactics of federal officers in Portland has drawn the ire of local leaders and Democrats in Congress, who say those officers are using excessive force and complain of overreach by the Trump administration.
US Attorney for the Western District of Washington Brian Moran said in a statement on Friday that federal agents are stationed in Seattle to protect federal properties and the work done in those buildings.
The Trump administration has also sent federal police to Chicago, Kansas City and Albuquerque over the objections of those mayors.
