US Department of Homeland Security officers form a line at Terry Shrunk Plaza as far-right demonstrators clash with counter-protesters in Portland, Oregon, Aug 22, 2020. (BROOKE HERBERT / THE OREGONIAN VIA AP)
With a police station set on fire, police in Portland, Oregon, declared a riot and dispersed protesters with tear gas on Sunday night after having the day before stepped back as warring armed groups clashed in pitched battles on the streets of the city.
The fire burned an awning of the police building late on Sunday, news outlets reported. Police ordered demonstrators to clear the area, saying that rocks and glass bottles had been thrown at officers, as well as lasers pointed in their direction. An unlawful assembly had been declared before the gathering was deemed a riot.
PPB members have been the focus of over 80 days of violent actions directed at the police, which is a major consideration for determining if police resources are necessary to interject between two groups with individuals who appear to be willingly engaging in physical confrontations for short durations.
Portland Police Bureau
Violent demonstrations have consumed the Pacific Northwest city following the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Portland police said they have declared a riot at least 18 times since May 29.
On Saturday afternoon, more than 100 right-wing activists, including the Proud Boys and armed militia, went to Portland to hold a "Back the Blue" pro-police rally in front of the building that houses the downtown police precinct. Hundreds of Antifa (antifascist) and "Black Lives Matter "protesters showed up to oppose them.
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Some in the right-wing crowd were armed with paintball guns, metal rods, bats, fireworks, pepper spray and guns. Those in the left-wing group met them with rocks, fireworks and bottles with chemical solutions. Both groups also carried shields and wore helmets, The Washington Post reported.
They engaged for more than two hours, exchanging punches, lofting paintballs and dispersing chemicals into the melee. Portland police made several announcements over loudspeakers, encouraging the combatants to "self-monitor for criminal activity", the Post reported.
"Each skirmish appeared to involve willing participants and the events were not enduring in time, so officers were not deployed to intervene," the Portland Police Bureau said.
"PPB members have been the focus of over 80 days of violent actions directed at the police, which is a major consideration for determining if police resources are necessary to interject between two groups with individuals who appear to be willingly engaging in physical confrontations for short durations," the bureau said.
Portland protests continue as a group of several hundred gather outside the Portland Police Bureau: North Precinct, in Portland, Oregon, Aug 23, 2020. (MARK GRAVES / THE OREGONIAN VIA AP)
Inadequate resources
"While the activity in the group met the definition of a riot, PPB did not declare one because there were not adequate police resources available to address such a declaration."
The city's police have labored to control confrontations between the diametrically opposed groups for three years.
The right-wing crowd chanted "USA! USA!" and chants against Antifa, the Post reported. The opposing leftists countered with shouts of: "Go home, Nazis".
In response to the protests on Sunday night, the tear gas was deployed after the fire had been set at the police station, according to news outlets.
While the activity in the group met the definition of a riot, PPB did not declare one because there were not adequate police resources available to address such a declaration.
Portland Police Bureau
Shootings also are up in the city, as a man in Southeast Portland early on Sunday became the eighth person shot in five days, The Oregonian reported.
Portland police reported in July that except for March, the number of shootings each month has been higher this year than in 2019. The totals in June and July have doubled from the previous year. Fifteen people were killed in Portland last month, the highest number in one month in the city of 655,000 in more than three decades, and 10 of them were fatally shot.
Political tempers also flared when US Attorney General William Barr sent in federal officers early in July to protect a US courthouse there. The federal presence was largely opposed by Oregon politicians and Democrats in Washington, accusing Trump of looking to score political points.
But the violence has persisted after most of the federal forces have left.
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The Republicans, who will hold their national convention this week, are expected to highlight the trouble in Portland and other US cities such as Chicago and New York and criticized the Democrats for not denouncing it at their convention last week.
The county prosecutor, Mike Schmidt, who took office on Aug 1, dismissed charges against more than half of about 600 people arrested in the protests, The New York Times reported.
The objective, Schmidt told the Times, is to balance "people's righteous anger and grief and fury over a system that has not really been responsive enough for decades and centuries" while trying to prevent property damage and violence.
Agencies contributed to this story.
