Oregon protesters hit with gas; feds urged to leave

PORTLAND, Ore. — Militarized federal agents deployed by the president fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as Portland’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them.

Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and some wearing dark Homeland Security uniforms, used tear gas at least twice to break up crowds late Friday night, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Protests against systemic racism and police brutality have been a nightly feature in deeply liberal Portland since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd on May 25. President Donald Trump has decried the disorder and Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf blasted the protesters as “lawless anarchists” during a visit to the city.

The administration has enlisted federal agents, including the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group and an elite U.S. Customs and Border Protection team based on the U.S.-Mexico border, to protect federal property. But Oregon Public Broadcasting reported this week that some agents had been driving around in unmarked vans and snatching protesters from streets not near federal property, without identifying themselves.

Tensions also escalated after an officer with the Marshals Service fired a less-lethal round at a protester’s head on July 11, critically injuring him.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Department of Homeland Security and Marshals Service on Friday on behalf of journalists and legal observers who had been hit with tear gas and rubber bullets, adding the federal agencies to a lawsuit the organization had already filed against local police.