Arrests in Portland, New York, the night after the US vote

Police in the US city of Portland have made arrests and confiscated fireworks, hammers and a rifle during demonstrations the night after voting in the US presidential elections.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown activated the state’s National Guard in response to the “widespread violence.”

Portland police said 10 people were arrested downtown, while the New York Police Department (NYPD) said it made about 50 arrests in protests that spread across the city.

“All the meetings that were declared riots were downtown. We have made 10 arrests,” a Portland police spokesman said in a statement.

Demonstrations were also seen in a few other cities across the United States last night, as activists demanding that the vote count be done without hindrance rallied in several cities, including Atlanta, Detroit and Oakland.

Earlier, some 100 people gathered for an interfaith event ahead of a planned march through downtown Detroit, on the battlefield state of Michigan, to demand a full recount of votes and what they called a peaceful transition of power.

Local Protect the Results partners, a coalition of more than 165 grassroots organizations, advocacy groups and unions, have organized more than 100 planned events across the country between yesterday and Saturday.

Heading into the election, the United States had seen months of protests following the May death of George Floyd, an African-American who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

The demonstrations gained momentum once again after the police shooting of an African American named Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the death of Walter Wallace Jr, who was killed by two officers in Philadelphia.

Portland has seen several demonstrations since Floyd’s death, particularly in the city center, and the protests have occasionally escalated into clashes between protesters and police, as well as between groups on the right and left.

Protests against racism have called for an end to police brutality and racial inequality, while the most recent demonstrations surrounding the elections have demanded a full recount of the votes cast on Tuesday.