Get out, Portland tells federal agents
Demonstrators set fire to courthouse entryway
PORTLAND, Ore. — With unrest continuing, the federal government is coming under increasing scrutiny for the activities of agents trying to clamp down on protests in Oregon’s largest city — demonstrations that President Donald Trump says are led by “anarchists and agitators.”
Protesters outside Portland’s U.S. courthouse set a fire in the building’s entryway early Monday, part of yet another night of conflict with federal agents who repeatedly teargassed the demonstrators to drive them away, officials said.
The latest unrest happened as local and state leaders expressed anger with the presence of the federal agents, saying the city’s protests had started to ease just as the federal agents started taking action on the streets of Portland.
Authorities over the weekend erected large fences around the building in an effort to keep away the protesters who have been on Portland’s streets daily since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly two months ago.
But video posted online showed demonstrators taking down the fencing. And a statement from Portland’s city police department described the protesters’ tactics as they repeatedly headed toward the courthouse and were repelled by federal agents who emerged from inside.
Hundreds of protesters were at the scene Sunday night into Monday morning. At one point, “dozens of people with shields, helmets, gas masks, umbrellas, bats, and hockey sticks approached the doors” of the courthouse until federal officers came out and dispersed them, the Portland police statement said.
The protesters later lit a fire at about 1:30 a.m. Monday within the portico of the courthouse, said Portland police. The department said its officers were not involved in any crowd-control measures, did not fire tear gas and “were not present during any of the activity described.”
Other people added wood and debris to the fire to make it larger. Federal agents came out of the courthouse, “dispersed the crowd and extinguished the fire,” the statement said.
Speaking on CNN’S ‘State of the Union,’ Portland’s Democratic
Mayor said federal officers “are not wanted here.”