Associated Press
August 19, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. — Protesters in Portland broke out the windows of a
county government building, sprayed lighter fluid inside and set a fire
in a demonstration that started Tuesday night and ended Wednesday
morning with clashes with police, officials said.
The fire at the Multnomah Building damaged the county government's
office of community involvement, where Oregon's first gay marriage took
place and where protective gear has been distributed to try to prevent
the spread of the coronavirus, said Multnomah County Chair Deborah
Kafoury.
“This is the heart of our County, where people in our community come to
get married, get their passports, and celebrate their cultural
traditions and diversity,” she said in a statement.
Demonstrations that often turn violent have gripped Oregon’s biggest
city for more than two months following the police killing of George
Floyd in Minneapolis.
Participants have repeatedly broken into the offices of a police union
headquarters building miles and last month clashed for weeks with
federal agents dispatched to protect a U.S. courthouse targeted by
protesters.
Portland officers late Tuesday declared a riot outside the county
building after demonstrators among a crowd of about 200 started fires in
dumpsters, used rocks to smash first floor windows and tossed burning
material inside that set the fire that set off fire alarms and the
building's sprinkler system, police said in a statement early Wednesday.
Authorities received Sunday night of protesters chasing a truck a few
blocks from the downtown federal courthouse. The driver crashed and was
then assaulted, authorities said.
The riot declaration allows officers to use crowd control methods such
as tear gas or flash bang devices. Police said in their statement that
some unspecified “crowd control munitions” were used to disperse the
crowd but that officers did not use tear gas.
Two protesters were arrested and one police officer suffered minor
injuries in scuffles as police broke up the demonstration, the statement
said.
The fire damaged the lobby where Oregon's first gay marriage happened in 2004, Kafoury said.
She asked residents to support the community involvement office, adding
that “there is grave injustice in our world and there is a violent and
tragic history of oppression in our County. I am committed to
transformational change.”
“In such a difficult, uncertain time, our community needs all of us to work together,” Kafoury added.
Police on Tuesday also identified a suspect accused of punching and
kicking a man to the ground after he crashed his pickup truck on a
sidewalk near ongoing demonstrations.
Authorities are trying to track down the suspect, Marquise Love, 25,
police said in a statement. The victim of the assault has been released
from a hospital and is recovering.
A social media account apparently connected to Love has been disabled
and efforts to locate him for comment were not immediately successful.
1 comment:
Full-fledged riot and only two people arrested. Somebody isn't really trying very hard.
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