Protesters pelted Portland police with rocks and concrete and glaze lasers to try and blind the police on the 72nd night of violent clashes, after Trump called the protesters ‘lawless wrongdoers’
- Portland police on Friday night said they were wearing rocks and concrete fur as officers tried to control the 72nd night of demonstrations
- Police in the city of Oregon said assailants were also “shining lasers trying to blind officers”
- Hours before Donald Trump used a New Jersey fundraiser to criticize events and said anarchists and ‘mobs’ had been given free rein in Portland
- On Thursday night, the mayor of Portland appealed to the Protestants for calm
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Portland police said Friday night they were attacked with rocks and pieces of concrete after the 72-night night of protest plunged into violence again.
Officers said some of the Protestants tried to blind officers by shining lights in their eyes.
Amid the chaos, police tweeted their apologies to local residents for the disturbance and noise disturbance, with officers using a sound wagon to blow up warnings for Protestants to leave the scene, causing them to hold an unfair meeting at 9.45am explain.
“Officers threw rocks and pieces of concrete at them,” police tweeted.
‘Individuals in the crowd shine lasers trying to blind officers.
‘The sound wagon sends out warnings and directions to those who attend the wrongful assembly to spread.
Protesters in Portland took to the streets Friday night with stern shields
The group, wearing black, marched from Laurelhurst Park to the Penumbra Kelly Building
Portland police tweeted Friday night that they were throwing stones and concrete
‘We apologize to our neighbors who are disturbed by the speaker on the sound wagon. We know it’s late.
‘We need to keep our distance to prevent the items being used as weapons against us.’
The unrest came hours after Donald Trump told supporters at a New Jersey money lender that the city of Portland had been taken over by a ‘mob’ of ‘anarchists’.
Trump said Democrats would allow all U.S. cities to follow the example of Portland if Joe Biden wins the November election.
On Friday night, more than 100 protesters gathered at 8:30 p.m. at Laurelhurst Park in Southeast Portland, according to Oregon Live.
A flyer on social media promoting the event told people to wear black and many were dressed in black from head to toe.
People issued handmade plywood shields in preparation for a potential clash with police.
A group of about a dozen Protestants practiced formations with shields, the site said, and one protester led the group and helped them place their shields in an effective wall.
The march took place around 9.20pm, and arrived after about 25 minutes at the Penumbra Kelly Building, divided by state and provincial acts – scene of frequent clashes between Protestants and police.
Protestants in Portland were taught Friday night to use their plywood shields in formation
Protest leaders instructed those wearing shields on how to behave and position themselves
The group, in Laurelhurst Park, lined up to request their ‘weapons’ for Friday night’s protest
As night fell, the group headed out to the Penumbra Kelly Building in Portland – scene of collisions
Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.
The face off went on until 10.45am – an hour after police illegally marked the meeting.
At 10:50 a.m., one person walked along the protest line and approached the building. Police quickly arrested the person.
This week’s clashes have raised tensions after an agreement last week between state and federal officials appeared to offer a brief proposal.
The deal brokered by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown called on agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to withdraw from her defense of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse with effect from July 30th.
But after a brief rehearsal over the weekend, protest activity continued into other parts of the city at night, with Portland police, local sheriff’s deputies and, in some cases, Oregon State Police troopers in front as protesters in end funding for police.
Protests have gone unabated in Portland since May 25 following the death of Floyd who died after a white Minneapolis police officer stabbed him in the neck for more than nine minutes.
In Portland, civil disobedience prompted Trump to send federal agents to guard the federal courthouse, which increasingly focused on demonstrations that were often violent.
It was a movement intended to stop the unrest, but the presence of federal agents instead intensified protesters and created a focal point for the protests every night thanks to concerns that Trump was exaggerating the boundaries of federal police.
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