The Portland, Oregon Police Association’s office was set on fire Saturday night amid citywide protests, police said in a statement Sunday.
Around 10:45 pm, people broke into the Portland Police Association’s office and started a fire “in a few moments.” Police declared the situation as a riot, according to the statement.
Several people in the crowd were arrested and officers were able to distinguish the fire, police said. Portland police did not use any CS gas, according to the statement.
Tear gas was deployed, The Associated Press reported citing images and videos of the scene, but the news service noted that it was not necessarily CS gas.
Police said the groups dispersed throughout the neighborhood, with large numbers of people regrouping near North Interstate Avenue and North Lombard Street. When officers moved the crowd south on North Interstate Avenue, people in the crowd “threw stones, gassed men, and threw paint-filled balloons at officers,” injuring some officers, police said.
The crowd split into smaller groups around 11:30 pm and “order was restored,” police said.
People also congregated in a downtown crowd near the Justice Center, and federal court pulled down fences around Chapman Square Park and Lonsdale Square Park that had been installed when the parks were closed or in need of repair, police said.
People also removed the fence around the Federal Courthouse and used it to barricade gates there, police said. Federal police came to target the crowd at some point, as the Portland police were working in North Portland at the time, police said.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) on Sunday called on the Trump administration to withdraw federal troops from the city. He said the presence of federal law enforcement “is generating more violence and more vandalism” and “is not helping the situation at all.”
“They are not wanted here, we have not asked for them here. In fact, we want them to leave, “said the mayor in CNN’s” State of the Union. ”
President Trump
Donald John Trump, Pelosi and Blumenaur condemn Trump’s “heinous abuses of power” against Oregon protesters. Federal agents deployed in Portland had no riot control training: NYT Trump administration sought to block funding for CDC, contact tracing, and testing on new relief law: MORE report He tweeted Sunday morning that he is “trying to help Portland, not hurt him.”
“His leadership has lost control of the anarchists and agitators for months. They lack action. We must protect federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. It’s not just about protesters, it’s the real deal! Trump tweeted.
We are trying to help Portland, not hurt him. His leadership, for months, has lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They lack action. We must protect federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not simply protesters, these are the real deal!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2020
The president’s tweet defending federal troops sent to Portland came after Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (D) federal agencies sued Friday for the arrest of protesters. The American Civil Liberties Union also filed a similar lawsuit against federal agencies for the deployment of agents to quell protesters in Portland.
Wheeler said Sunday that he accepts that the Trump administration’s actions in his city are violating the law.
“The tactics that the Trump administration is using on the streets of Portland are abhorrent,” he said.
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