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Portland police declared a protest in northeastern Oregon City an “illegal gathering” Sunday night, ordering crowds to disperse or risk arrest.
“For those near the Kelly Building, this has been declared an illegal gathering due to criminal activity,” Portland police wrote on Twitter of a facility that houses police offices. “Failure to comply with this order may subject you to arrest, citation and / or the use of crowd control agents, including but not limited to tear gas and / or impact weapons.”
The rally followed a fatal shooting amid clashes between Donald Trump supporters and counter-protesters.
On Saturday night, a caravan of about 600 vehicles carrying supporters of Donald Trump passed through the liberal city. He was greeted by counter-protesters and skirmishes broke out. About 15 minutes after the caravan left, a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer was shot dead.
Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson, a former Republican candidate for the United States Senate, identified the victim as Aaron “Jay” Danielson, whom he called a “good friend.”
“We love Jay and he had such a big heart,” Gibson said in a Facebook post. “God bless him and the life he lived.”
Trump retweeted the victim’s name and wrote: “Rest in peace Jay!”
It was unclear if the shooting was related to the fighting in Portland, prompting Gov. Kate Brown to say that the Oregon State Police would dispatch staff and resources to help keep the situation under control.
“We must all come together, elected officials, community leaders, all of us, to stop the cycle of violence,” Brown said.
Demonstrations against racism and police brutality have swept across the United States since the May murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was killed when a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Tensions between rival groups have rocked parts of downtown Portland nightly for nearly three months. In July, Trump deployed federal forces to suppress the protests.
On Sunday, the president denounced Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, as “weak.” Seeking an electoral edge from a “law and order” message, Trump has often said that cities run by Democrats have been thrown into chaos.
Wheeler told reporters: “What the United States needs is to [Trump] to be arrested. “
He added: “Mr. President, how can you think that a comment like that, if you are seeing this, is in any way useful? It is an aggressive stance, not a collaborative one. I certainly came closer … saying first that you must do your part and I must do mine and then we must both be accountable.
“Let’s work together … why don’t we try that for a change?”
Trump appeared to be encouraging his followers to move to Portland. After the shooting, the president shared a video of his supporters driving into town, calling them “GREAT PATRIOTS!”
Wheeler begged anyone who wanted to come to Portland to “seek revenge” to stay away.
“If you’re from out of town and you’re reading something on social media, if you’re reading any data on social media, they are probably wrong because we don’t have all the facts yet,” said the mayor. “This is not the time to get excited because you read something on Twitter that a guy made up in his mother’s basement.”
Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, accused Trump of “recklessly encouraging” violence.
“You may believe that tweeting about law and order makes you strong,” Biden said, “but his inability to call on his supporters to stop seeking conflict shows how weak he is.”
