Following the gloomy pattern of the past few days, protests in front of the federal court in downtown Portland, Oregon, turned into chaos early Friday after dozens of federal agents emerged from the building and confronted protesters, deploying tear gas and shooting rubber bullets.
But in what the protesters said was a new development, a larger contingent of federal officials who previously began to push protesters back, block by block, further from the United States Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in the Downtown Portland, the epicenter of the nightly protests that rocked Oregon’s largest city.
After 1 am on Friday, loud thumping and gunshots rang through the air around the courthouse, causing protesters to sneak out. Cries for medical assistance were heard as people tried to find help for the injured protesters.
It was the last eruption of violence on the streets of Portland. President Trump has sent armed federal officials to quell the protests, but the state has sued to limit the intervention, which he says has involved the illegal detention of people as a bullying tactic.
Thursday night’s protest had started peacefully. Around 10 at night, the atmosphere was festive, as had been the case on previous nights. More than 1,000 people had gathered outside the Multnomah County Justice Center and the United States Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in downtown Portland.
Protesters shouted, “Black lives matter!” and “Get out, feds, we don’t want you here!” Several dozen protesters sometimes hit and hit the fence, while some threw cardboard and fired fireworks, causing a small fire.
That prompted federal agents to issue warnings to loudspeakers around midnight that if protesters did not leave the fence and disperse, they would use crowd control munitions. At midnight, the first round of tear gas and peppercorns was fired.
A group of volunteer doctors began warning people that 50 federal agents had left the courthouse and were climbing up 3rd Avenue and Salmon Street. From there, officers used rubber bullets and tear gas while pushing many of the protesters west to Main Street and 6th Avenue.
At approximately 1:30 am, dozens of federal agents lined up outside the courthouse as waves of white smoke filled the air. A man lay on the ground, moaning and asking for help. A journalist took him away.
Another protester, Brian Copley, said it was his second time in the protests since they started after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
“The protests were peaceful. Only a small number of people threw cardboard and fireworks and the fire started, “he said.
“I was really scared tonight,” he added. “I have never seen or heard of federal officials pushing people so aggressively and so many blocks from the court and using such force.”
Federal agents withdrew into the court after about an hour after the protesters largely dispersed. A small group of people returned to court and continued to demonstrate and hit the fence, causing more tear gas from the officers.
Before Thursday’s protests, a judge issued an order temporarily prohibiting federal agents from using force against journalists and observers at the protests.
But officers apparently ignored the ruling, issued just hours earlier by United States District Court Judge Michael Simon, when tear gas was fired at a group of journalists several meters away documenting events.
A Times journalist who had clearly identified herself was hit by a rubber bullet despite showing her credentials to officers just minutes earlier.
