Chaos breaks out in Portland on the 79th night of violence after police declare an unfair meeting

Chaos erupted in Portland for a 79th consecutive night on Friday after police declared an unfair gathering during a peaceful demonstration and stormed a protesting shield line, hitting people with batons.

About 300 Protestants had gathered at 9 a.m. in the city’s Peninsula Park for a peaceful march across North Portland that was expected to end at the Police Association building on N Lombard Street.

But even before protesters could begin driving to their destination, police – cutting tactics from previous nights – cut off access to the streets leading to the police union headquarters.

Minutes into the march, the audience was met with a line of policemen dressed in riot gear and cars blocking their path, and they fought to disperse.

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Cops told protesters they could not continue their march because the street was open to traffic and threatened to use tear gas or other methods of crowd control if they did not leave.

Protesters, however, stood their ground and confronted police for about 20 minutes, according to Oregon Live.

Activists standing in front held up their handmade wooden shields, emblazoned with the Black Lives Matter logo of a raised fist. Others in the crowd were singing songs as one man played the drums.

Protesters eventually switched gears and pulled up a residential street to continue their march, only to be met by two more dozen policemen blocking their path, resulting in another standoff.

At 10 a.m., police declared an illegal gathering, saying people in the crowd “threw paint bombs and other projectiles” at officers, however, one reporter on the ground denied this, saying they were “paint balloons”.

Another journalist said some water bottles and a ‘white liquid’ had been thrown at police, according to Oregon Live.

Officers were seen shouting at the crowd, hitting some protesters with batons as they tried to clear the area.

The incident quickly escalated into violence and chaos, with some nearby dumpsters setting it on fire.

At least one person was arrested during the collision. Police were also seen setting off smoke teachers to disperse crowds.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty responded to a video of the scene on Twitter describing the actions of politicians as ‘brutal’ and ‘unacceptable.’

‘This is the community that the police have sworn to protect and serve. They must preserve the fundamental rights of Portlanders, ‘she tweeted.

Demonstrations, often violent, took place at night in Oregon’s largest city for more than two months after the assassination of George Floyd. Floyd, a black man, died in Minneapolis after a white officer pressed a knee to his neck.

Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, authorities say protesters set fire to and explode commercial-grade explosive devices outside the downtown federal court. Several officers were injured and two people were arrested.

The protests in Portland last month outside the federal courthouse saw protesters clash at night with federal agents being sent to the city to protect the facility.

The demonstrations disappeared after a drawing of the agents, who were replaced by Oregon state troops. But protests erupted violently last week, mostly near a police union headquarters building miles from the federal courthouse.