Portland clashes not as bad as expected

PORTLAND, Ore. — Several people in Portland were arrested in anti-police brutality protests that continued into early Sunday, hours after demonstrations ended with few reports of violence.

The protests that began Saturday night were declared an unlawful assembly and police began forcing demonstrators out after objects were thrown at officers, including full drink cans, firecrackers and rocks, police said.

Hundreds of people had gathered at demonstrations in the downtown area of Oregon’s largest city when the unlawful assembly was announced just before midnight.

Several arrests were made, police said, but a specific number was not immediately available. One man broke away from officers and ran two blocks with his hands in zip-tie cuffs before he was recaptured by police. Police also seized bear spray, a baton and a drone in separate stops or arrests. The crowd had largely dispersed by early Sunday morning, police said.

The unrest came just hours after a right-wing rally and counter-protesters largely dispersed without serious violence Saturday afternoon. Police were investigating an assault after one person who was documenting the event – possibly a reporter – was pushed to the ground and kicked in the face.

Separately, police said a criminal citation was issued after officials confiscated firearms, paintball guns, baseball bats and shields from a pickup truck that was initially stopped for having obscured license plates as it left the rally.

Several hundred people, dozens of them wearing body armor, gathered in Portland to support President Donald Trump and his reelection campaign Saturday. The attendance was far fewer than the 10,000 organizers had expected after tensions boiled over nationwide following the decision not to charge officers in Louisville, Kentucky, for killing Breonna Taylor.

Organized by the Proud Boys, a group that has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Portland rally was described as a free speech event to support Trump and police and condemn anti-fascists and “violent gangs of rioting felons” in the streets.