More than five dozen 911 calls went unanswered by local police in Portland as authorities worked to control a riot that broke out overnight Saturday.
“At the time of this release over 60 calls for police service were holding around the city. Some had been holding for the length of the events described here,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement issued just after 4 a.m. local time on Sunday. “Call types ranged from theft, vandalism, suspicious activity, hazards, hit and run, burglary, violation of restraining order, alarms, stolen cars, harassment and many others.”
Just after 9 p.m., a crowd of hundreds walked to the Penumbra Kelly Building in the 4700 block of East Burnside Street, blocking traffic on city streets, police said. As the crowd gathered, demonstrators blocked all lanes of East Burnside Street from Northeast 47th Avenue to Northeast 50th Avenue, where government buildings are located. They also fired projectiles at the police and cars parked outside the buildings.
Police reported some in the crowd chanted, “Kill a cop, save a life,” and, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! If we don’t get it, burn it down!”
Anti-government protesters have taken to the streets almost nightly in Portland since early this summer. President Trump has described the demonstrators as “violent anarchist” who “hate our country.”
“A lot of people in jail, these are anarchists. These are not protesters. … These are people that hate our country. And we’re not going to let it go forward,” Trump said. “The governor and the mayor and the senators out there, they are afraid of these people. That’s the reason they don’t want us to help them. They’re afraid. … I really believe they’re actually, maybe even physically afraid of these people because what they’re doing is incredible.”
Mayor Ted Wheeler, who initially pledged support for what he described as largely peaceful demonstrations, earlier this month condemned the riots after some participants attempted to burn down government buildings with city staff inside.
“We anticipate additional planned attacks on occupied public buildings over the next few days,” Wheeler said last week. “I want to put a message out to the people of this city. If you are a non-violent demonstrator and you don’t want to be a part of intentional violence, please stay away from these areas. Our community must say that this violence is not Portland, that these actions do not represent our values, and these crimes are distracting from reform, not advancing it.”
