Clashes in Portland as Trump’s actions light fuse under protests in other cities
Downtown Portland saw fresh clashes early on Monday morning, between anti-racism protesters and federal officers using teargas, flash-bangs and crowd control munitions.
For a 60th night in succession, protesters gathered to mark the killing of George Floyd by demanding action against police brutality. A peaceful demonstration of about 1,000 people began on Sunday evening, the crowd chanting “Black Lives Matter”, at a steel fence erected around the federal courthouse after two earlier barriers were torn down.
The US agents, drawn mainly from border patrol, were dispatched to Portland by Donald Trump ostensibly to protect the courthouse. But they have succeeded in inflaming the situation, redirecting the ire of demonstrators away from police brutality and towards the president’s provocative deployment of highly militarised officers with no known training in crowd control.
Trump has justified the move, saying it is intended to tackle anarchy and violence on the streets of Portland and other cities. But he has focused his rhetoric at the Democratic management of those cities in what critics have decried as a blatant electoral ploy ahead of November’s election.
US attorney Billy Williams said Monday that federal militarized officers will remain in Portland until attacks on the US courthouse cease. Trump said on Twitter that the federal properties in Portland “wouldn’t last a day” without the presence of the federal agents.
Meanwhile, the non-profit Protect Democracy filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington DC, on behalf of several individual protesters as well as the anti-racist organization Don’t Shoot Portland and Wall of Moms, a group of mothers who have sought to insert themselves between protesters and police despite being blasted with teargas. The complaint argues that while federal law allows federal officials to protect federal property, the heavily militarized agents who have responded in Portland have gone far beyond simply protecting property. Instead, it said, they have repeatedly fired teargas, rubber bullets and flashbang grenades at the crowds in an effort to quell the protests in violation of the constitution.Far from quel
ling unrest, Trump’s actions have also lit a fuse under demonstrations in other cities. Protesters reconvened in Seattle on Sunday night in support of fellow demonstrators in Portland.
The Seattle gathering remained peaceful. The previous night, protesters had clashed with local police officers, with rocks and bottles thrown according to the authorities. There was no repeat on Sunday night of trouble that broke out in Oakland and Aurora, Colorado on Saturday. Richmond, in Virginia, also saw trouble on Saturday night.
The clashes in Portland broke out shortly after midnight, according to the Oregonian newspaper. The federal forces turned out lights illuminating the courthouse and over loudspeakers ordered protesters to disperse on the grounds that they were holding an unlawful assembly.
Confrontations erupted after the US agents began to clear the area. According to the Associated Press, the officers deployed several rounds of what appeared to be teargas, flashbangs and pepper balls. Protesters responded by igniting fireworks and beaming lights on to the courthouse, with some scaling the fence.
Video footage shot by the journalist Andrew Kimmel showed agents in unmarked camouflage uniform and gas masks pushing back the crowd with batons and pepper spray, and rushing at protesters. The recording shows officers shooting gas and flash-bangs directly at the crowd.
An unknown number of arrests were made. Some protesters shouted “I cannot breathe” and “Why? Why?” as they were held on the ground.
Shortly after 2am, Portland police posted a photo on Twitter of what looked like molotov cocktails and ammunition magazines it said had been recovered in Lownsdale Square park. Two people were arrested after a shot was reported to have been fired in that location.