Rioters in Portland set the city’s Police Association office on fire during riots over the weekend.
The Portland Police Department said that protesters gathered outside the union building around 10:30 p.m. local time on Saturday after being cleared from a demonstration roughly two miles away from the building. When they arrived, the rioters cut off access to the area by lighting dumpsters on fire in the middle of the roads. They then broke down the doors of the facility and rushed inside and started a fire.
“As Portland Police arrived, many began to flee to the east. Portland Police declared a riot due to the violent conduct of the large group creating a grave risk of public alarm. Police issued public address announcements and moved the crowd east. As the crowd was dispersed, several people in the crowd were arrested and officers were able to extinguish the fire,” the department said in a press release.
PPA on fire. Riot declared. Sirens coming from the west. Crowd moving East. Hearing some kind of shots. pic.twitter.com/mzn594pPBa
— Tuck Woodstock (@tuckwoodstock) July 19, 2020
The department said that officers were targeted with projectiles and that several squad cars were vandalized during the riots. Some officers were injured, but the department did not specify how many officers were hurt or the severity of the injuries.
Portland has been witnessing protests for several weeks, with recent demonstrations becoming more violent. Federal law enforcement agents were reportedly deployed into the city without the request of local leaders to regain control of the area. The Department of Homeland Security was widely criticized for using unmarked vans and uniforms while arresting those at the protest.
Mayor Ted Wheeler blamed the federal government for the violence on Sunday, saying that federal agents reignited the violent protests just as they were dying down.
“The president has a complete misunderstanding of cause and effect. What’s happening here is we have dozens if not hundreds of federal troops descending upon our city. And what they’re doing is they are sharply escalating the situation,” Wheeler told CNN.
“Their presence here is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism. And it’s not helping the situation at all. They’re not wanted here. We haven’t asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave,” he added.
The protests taking place in Portland are part of nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis.
