Police shoot tear gas and pepper spray at protesters in Portland, OR
Police shoot tear gas and pepper spray at protesters in portland after reports of projectiles being thrown from a parking garage, Trace Gallagher reports.
Protests in Portland turned violent as protesters attempted to establish an autonomous zone and looted stores around a police precinct, turning it instead into a “war zone,” according to reports.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the North Precinct on the one month anniversary of George Floyd’s death while in police custody, Oregon Live wrote. While protests earlier in the day had been peaceful, protesters set fires around the precinct as they attempted to “burn the building down” after failing to take control of it.
A Portland police report described how protesters gathered, bringing supplies “to build a fence.” While some protesters blocked traffic and attempted to build an autonomous zone outside the precinct similar to the one in Seattle, others hurled projectiles, including glass bottles and fireworks, at police.
Protesters also used dumpsters to block officers inside the building.
In video footage, protesters can be heard chanting “No good cops in a racists system.”
“North Portland looks like a war zone right now,” Andy Ngô, a reporter for The Post Millennial, tweeted on Friday morning. He also claimed that militants had tried to “establish an autonomous zone outside the [Portland Police] North Precinct.”
“Rioters have a huge banner that reads, ‘Every city, every town, burn the precinct to the ground.”
Protesters covered the precinct in graffiti, with anti-cop slogans such as “ACAB” - which means "All Cops Are Bastards" - and “Abolish Police” as well as the comment that “Tamir Rice would be 18 today” over an enormous BLM.
Officers attempted to disperse the crowd around 1 a.m. on Friday using “crowd control munitions,” including impact munitions and CS gas, which Oregon Live notes is “a kind of tear gas.” Protesters also allegedly fired paintballs at the officers, obscuring their vision as the protesters and police clashed.
This Friday, June 26, 2020, photo released by the Portland Police Department shows damage after protests calling for an end to racial injustice and accountability for police in Portland, Ore. Some protesters set fire to a police precinct, vandalized businesses and tried to barricade police officers inside their station during a demonstration early Friday morning that ended with law enforcement using tear gas to disperse the crowd, authorities said. (Portland Police Department via AP)
An hour later, people seen were looting businesses and setting them on fire. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
This Friday, June 26, 2020, photo released by the Portland Police Department shows damage after protests calling for an end to racial injustice and accountability for police in Portland, Ore. Some protesters set fire to a police precinct, vandalized businesses and tried to barricade police officers inside their station during a demonstration early Friday morning that ended with law enforcement using tear gas to disperse the crowd, authorities said. (Portland Police Department via AP)
“The dynamics of the demonstrators during this incident were more aggressive and violent than those seen in past weeks,” police said in a statement.
They also tweeted out that “arrests have been made. Officers are now securing businesses that were vandalized and looted in the King neighborhood.”
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At least one officer was taken to hospital with injuries, though he is expected to make a full recovery.
