Law enforcement officers in Portland, Oregon, declared a riot Friday night after leftists began smashing windows, destroying property, and vandalizing businesses.
Police officials said the group, containing roughly 75 people, was initially rallied by a post on social media that called for an “autonomous demonstration” to block traffic and disrupt activities around Couch Park in Portland, according to Breitbart News.
While law enforcement officials said the event invite instructed participants not to bring weapons, many of them were “armed with weapons and tools used to cause damage, wearing helmets, body armor, and gas masks and committed crimes such as riot, criminal mischief, arson, and assault.”
A group of about 50 people are marching through NW Portland. One Starbucks had its windows smashed at NW 23rd/Overton pic.twitter.com/PCqEP1wlNG
— Drew Marine (@DrewCMarine) April 24, 2021
The Portland Police Bureau released a statement saying that the rioters who gathered on Friday night were intentionally wearing all-black clothing and face coverings as to “make it difficult for police to identify lawbreakers.”
“The group began marching in the streets about 9:15 p.m., and within 15 minutes reports of broken windows and graffiti came in. Some members of the group briefly forced their way into a tavern/restaurant in the 2200 block of Northwest Hoyt Street, then other participants followed them in and pulled them out,” the statement read.
A group of police blocking NW 19th/Hoyt pic.twitter.com/rpdmf9J7y5
— Drew Marine (@DrewCMarine) April 24, 2021
The bureau said the group’s actions ultimately met the definition of a riot and instructed them to disperse.
“Few if any of them complied,” they said.
Two people, Jacob A. Camello, 29, and Crystal M. Miranda, 29, were arrested during the incident and were sent to the Multnomah County Detention Center, where they face charges of mischief in the first degree.
Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray recognized the group calling itself “antifa” to be a “movement” that includes “small regional nodes of people who commit violent attacks citing that as their motivation.”
“Antifa is a real thing; it’s not a fiction, and it’s a concern,” he said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing.
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Riots carried out by antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters have become commonplace since George Floyd died in police custody last year. At one point, protests, many of them violent, occurred in Oregon’s largest city for over 100 days in a row.
