Portland clashes rage again
Portland, Ore. (AP) — Protesters in Oregon’s largest city have clashed again with federal agents outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building that has become a new focus of the demonstrations that have gripped Portland for months, officials said Friday.
People in a group of about 100 late Thursday and before dawn Friday sprayed the building with graffiti, hurled rocks and bottles at agents and shined laser lights at them, Portland police said in a statement.
The agents set off smoke or tear gas and used crowd-control munitions to try to disperse the crowd, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Three people were arrested, police said in their statement.
The violence came a day after protesters clashed with federal agents for the first time since July in a demonstration that also targeted the ICE building. Two people were arrested, and several officers suffered minor injuries.
On Friday, a number of federal buildings across the city were closed as the FBI investigated a car bomb threat. The agency said in a statement Friday that investigators were trying to determine whether the threat, which was reported Thursday, was credible.
Two law enforcement officers, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter, said the threat warned of the intent to use a car bomb to target federal property. It wasn’t clear if the threat was related to the protests.
A 25-year-old man turned himself in to police Friday in connection with the assault of another man caught on video during a confrontation near a downtown Portland demonstration Sunday. Marquise Love was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center with bail set at $260,000, police said. He’s accused of assault, coercion and rioting.
Also this week, police arrested Skylor Jernigan, 27, of Milwaukie, Ore., on accusations of firing a gun after pro-police protesters organized by a rightwing group squared off with counterprotesters in Portland on Saturday.
At least one video from the scene showed a man, who appeared to be Jernigan, fire two rounds from the driver’s side window of a sedan, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Jernigan was booked on two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, recklessly endangering another person and discharging a firearm in the city. He was released without bail on Thursday, according to Multnomah County jail staff.