PORTLAND, Oregon. Another night of unrest on the streets of Portland stiffened after federal officials fired tear gas Thursday morning near city mayor Ted Wheeler, who had joined the protesters outside the city’s federal court.
Wheeler, who coughed and rushed to put on glasses while denouncing what he called the federal agents’ urban warfare tactic, said he was outraged by the use of tear gas and had seen nothing to justify such a response.
“I will not lie, it hurts; it’s hard to breathe, ”Wheeler said. “And I can tell you with 100 percent honesty, I didn’t see anything that prompted this response.”
He called it an “egregious overreaction” by federal officials, and not an escalation reduction strategy. “It has to stop now,” he declared.
The mayor has asked federal agents to leave the city after they arrived to subdue the long-standing riots, dressed in camouflage and tactical gear and unleashing tear gas, violently colliding with protesters and pushing some people into unmarked trucks in what Governor Kate Brown called “a blatant abuse of power.”
But the 57-year-old Democratic mayor has also long been the target of Portland protesters angered by the city’s use of tear gas last month. As he passed through the crowd on Wednesday, some threw objects in his direction, and others called for his resignation, singing, “Teddy Gas Teddy.”
The protests, fueled by a wide range of complaints, including against police brutality, have rocked Portland for 55 consecutive nights, persisting even as other protests have dwindled in other parts of the country since the murder of George Floyd, a black man, in police. custody in Minneapolis.
