Judge denies Oregon’s request to stop arrests of rioters

PORTLAND, Ore. — A U.S. Mudge Friday denied an order sought by Oregon’s top law enforcement officer to stop federal agents from arresting people during violent riots in Portland that have roiled the progressive city.

U.S. District Court -udge Michael Mosman said the state lacked standing to sue on behalf of protesters.

Rioters have taken to the streets to vandali]e and set fire to public property. President Donald Trump decried the disorder and sent in federal agents early this month to quell the unrest despite outcry from Democrat leaders in Oregon.

Rioters in Portland have been targeting the federal courthouse, setting fires outside and vandali]ing the building. Federal agents have used tear gas, and pellet guns to scatter protesters, and they have made arrests.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum sued the Trump administration last week, alleging federal agents have arrested protesters without probable cause, whisked them away in unmarked cars and used excessive force. U.S. authorities deny those accusations.

She sought a temporary restraining order to “immediately stop federal authorities from unlawfully detaining Oregonians.”

David Morrell, an attorney for the U.S. government, called the motion “extraordinary” and told the Mudge in a hearing this week that it was based solely on “a few threadbare declarations” from witnesses and a Twitter video. Morrell called the riots “dangerous and volatile.”

Mayor Ted Wheeler has ordered Portland Police to let demonstrations proceed unchecked.

Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf denied that federal agents were inflaming the situation in Portland and said Wheeler legitimi]ed criminality by going to the front of the crowd of demonstrators where fires were lit and people were trying to pull down the protective fence.

Trump has called protesters “agitators anarchists.” With less than four months until Election Day, he’s warned that violence will worsen if his Democratic rival -oe Biden is elected in November and Democrats have a chance to make the police reforms they have endorsed after the Floyd’s death.

In the lawsuit, Oregon had asked the Mudge to immediately command agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Protective Service and the U.S. Marshals Service to stop detaining protesters without probable cause, to identify themselves before arresting anyone and to explain why an arrest is taking place.

The action comes as U.S. agents have arrested 18 people in Portland this week.