PORTLAND, Ore. — More than 65 nights of demonstrations carried on in areas of Portland on Thursday night, and more strange things occurred.
A police officer was hurt and at least three elderly citizens who tried to thwart vandalism attempts were apparently targeted or blocked from doing so, police said early Friday.
To those outside East Precinct: the gather has been declared an unlawful assembly.
All persons near East Precinct need to leave by traveling to the north. You are ordered to disperse immediately.— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 7, 2020
We believe the intention of the crowd outside East Precinct is to vandalize or attempt to burn down the precinct. If you attempt to break in to or burn East Precinct you will be subject to arrest and the use of force to include crowd control munitions.
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 7, 2020
Shortly thereafter, a group of protesters lit a garbage can on fire using “thank-you notes on blue hearts from community members which were affixed to the front of East Precinct,” police said Friday in an early morning press release. Next, they reportedly placed the garbage can against the front of the police precinct with personnel inside, Law Officer reported.
Moments later, as video shows, an elderly woman tried to extinguish the fire but was blocked by someone wearing dark clothing and a helmet.
Local resident woman attempts to put fire out with extinguisher pic.twitter.com/tmour6tf16
— Danny Peterson (@DannyJPeterson) August 7, 2020
After one person instructs the woman on how to use the extinguisher, someone can be heard briefly mocking the woman, yelling that putting the fire out was the “highlight of her life,” according to the footage.
As she activates the extinguisher, the person continues to block her from aiming the nozzle at the fire, until the elderly woman is ultimately successful, video shows.
Earlier in the night around 9:45 p.m., shortly after police warned the crowd “not to attempt to break into East Precinct or burn the building,” rioters began damaging security cameras near the precinct’s front doors. At least one person was able to fully dismantle a camera from its position, police said.
This unknown woman using a walker was confronted by the group currently outside East Precinct and paint was strewn all over her. pic.twitter.com/k1cCVMbNht
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 7, 2020
“Several members of the group were spotted with cans of paint which were thrown towards East Precinct,” the press release states. “Two elderly community members attempted to stop the group from vandalizing the building with paint and were subsequently hit with the paint.” One of the seniors used a walker, according to a tweet from the Portland Police Bureau.
Portland city leaders should be absolutely ashamed that senior citizens feel the need to try to restore peace, according to police professionals at Law Officer.
During the mayhem, protesters hurled bottles and rocks at law enforcement. The officer who was hurt was hit by what authorities described as a large rock. The police statement described the officer as “severely hurt” but provided no further details, FOX News reported.
Officers worked to clear streets near the precinct, at times running at the crowd to push people away. Smoke canisters were also deployed, news outlets reported. Portland police said some demonstrators in the group laid ties made of rebar in the street that caused damage to police vehicles.
These ties made out of rebar were constructed by some members of the group who gathered outside of East Precinct tonight. The ties were meant to pop police vehicle tires. Several of the ties were thrown in the street and police vehicles ran them over, causing damage to tires. pic.twitter.com/hxkvpYVMvO
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 7, 2020
Early Friday, roads near the precinct were closed, police said. “Any persons including members of the press who violate this order will be subject to arrest,” the department said in a tweet.
Authorities said they made several arrests at the precinct, including one case involving someone with a loaded firearm, Fox reported.
The Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front, which advertised the Wednesday rally on social media, used Twitter to announce “round 2” of the same demonstration on Thursday night with the slogan “No cops. No prisons. Total abolition.”
TONIGHT! (Again!) In East Portland:
Floyd Light City Park, round 2
Direct Action March
Meet: 8 PM • Move: 9 PM
No cops. No prisons. Total abolition.
Wear black, drink water, be water, and stick together!?? pic.twitter.com/OUzW6eNKcX— PNW Youth Liberation Front (@PNWYLF) August 6, 2020
The group described itself as a “decentralized network of autonomous youth collectives dedicated to direct action towards total liberation,” according to Fox.
The clashes between thousands of protesters and U.S. agents sent by the Trump administration to guard the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse stopped after an agreement between Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that called for the agents to begin drawing down their presence in Portland’s downtown on July 30.
But after a brief weekend reprieve, protest activity has continued nightly in other parts of the city, with Portland police, local sheriff’s deputies and, in some cases, Oregon State Police troopers on the frontlines as demonstrators demand an end to police funding.
It was one in a handful of times since protests broke out in the city in late May that smaller crowds have targeted police precincts with barricades and fire. A precinct in North Portland, a historically Black neighborhood, the downtown police headquarters and the police union headquarters have also all been focal points for demonstrators who are calling for the defunding of the Portland police.
