Violence escalates at Portland protest

PORTLAND, Ore. — Protesters in Portland hurled several firebombs at officers in Oregon’s largest city during a demonstration over a Kentucky grand jury’s decision to not indict officers in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, police said, escalating tensions in a city that’s already seen nearly four months of nightly protests over racial injustice and police brutality.

Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said Wednesday night’s demonstrations were the most violent that Portland has seen thus far in fourmonths of nearly nightlyunrest since thedeath of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minnesota after a white officer held a knee to his neck. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt — who has been criticized for dismissing cases against hundreds of protesters — condemned the violence and called for calm.

Thirteen people were arrested during the demonstration.

U.S. agents with the Federal Protective Service, who were guarding a federal courthouse nearby, offered assistance and the Portland police accepted, Davis said Thursday.

No tear gaswas used by local or federal lawenforcement, Davis said.

Schmidt said a peaceful protest intended to honor Taylor was sabotaged by violence.

“There is no justification for a person to ever throw an incendiary device, to set fire to buildings or to engage in other violent and destructive behavior,” he said in a statement.

The protesters Wednesday joined demonstrators around the U.S. who were enraged that a grand jury didn’t indict officers in the shooting of Taylor, a Black woman who was shot to death in her Louisvillehomeby officers conducting a drug investigation.

Police said protesters hurled three Molotov cocktails at officers and threw rocks that shatteredwindows at a lawenforcement precinct station. One officer was hit in the foot by one of the firebombs.