Trump clampdown ignites city
PORTLAND: Police and federal agents fired tear gas and forcefully dispersed protesters in the US city of Portland, amid President Donald Trump’s heavily criticised “surge” of security forces.
The city, the biggest in the state of Oregon, has seen nightly protests against racism and police brutality for nearly two months, sparked by the death of unarmed AfricanAmerican George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota.
Portland is also now the scene of a highly controversial crackdown by federal agents ordered by Mr Trump, but not supported by local officials, which many said smacked of authoritarianism.
Civil unrest was not confined only to Portland: three members of a black militia were shot in Louisville, Kentucky, after a gun discharged at a Black Lives Matter protest, local media reported, citing police. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
The protest, to demand justice for a black woman who was killed by police as she slept in her home, drew members of the black militia and a rival farright militia, with the heavily armed groups facing off while separated by riot police.
The Portland demonstration was mainly peaceful, with music and dancing, and people blowing soap bubbles and setting off fireworks. But it ended – like many – in a showdown between protesters and police, escalating in a haze of tear gas and flash-bang devices. One group formed a line with umbrellas and makeshift shields to try to protect themselves.