Protest escalates in downtown Portland, demonstrators break into mall, justice center

[CentralMass]

Source: The Oregonian

"After hours of largely peaceful demonstrations, violence escalated late Friday in downtown Portland, as hundreds of people gathered to protest the Minneapolis police killing of a black man."
"A little after 11 p.m., demonstrators broke windows and set a fire that eventually died down inside the Multnomah County Justice Center, which houses a county jail and police headquarters. Online video shows people in an office space tossing computers, phones and furniture.

Portland Police labeled the event an “unlawful assembly" and began to move in toward the crowd. “If you do not go home now, force will be used to disperse you,” police said on Twitter.

Police officers in riot gear arrived around 11:15 p.m. Police used tear gas, pepper balls and stun grenades to attempt to break up the protest.

But protesters spread out, and the chaos continued through downtown."

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/05/protest-escalates-at-downtown-portland-justice-center.html

[flibbitygiblets]

1. Goddamn it Portland

[CentralMass]

3. Ya. Looting, fires, broken windows. It is not a good situation.

[EllieBC]

4. Don't they still have a stay at home order?

Or do COVID fears not affect looting?

[CentralMass]

5. Most of Oregon has reopened under Phase 1. Washington county where I live

reopens on Monday.

https://govstatus.egov.com/reopening-oregon#phase1

[EllieBC]

6. Oh well thank goodness the pandemic is over.

At least for large crowds gathering to riot and loot.

I guess we can thank them all for an early wave 2 in a few weeks.

[CentralMass]

7. Yes it is unacceptable behavior.

[MissB]

10. Multnomah county is the only county not yet in Phase 1.

They will be soon- mid June. (Portland is in Multnomah county).

But not yet.

When I saw pictures of the earlier part of the protest- when they were at Peninsula Park in NE Portland - folks were wearing masks and sitting apart on the grass.

So I presume that some of those protestors kept their masks on when they marched downtown.

Not sure on the looters though.

[McKim]

8. Sad for My Town

I am sad for my town. Our police department has been unfair to African Americans for more than a century. Good citizens have tried to gain power with police oversight but it never seems to make an impact on the sick culture in our police department. We have had African Americans murdered by the police here in the past.

We could not attend the demonstration called for by the NAACP here yesterday at 11:30 AM because of our age And COVID 19 we can’t congregate. But today we are sending the local NAACP a check and a letter of support. This event at the “Justice” Center was much later In the evening and had nothing to do with the NAACP.

I believe in the rule of law, yet understand that The Law has not been fairly serving all our populations here in the whitest city in America.

[CentralMass]

9. The event early in the day received nothing but positive coverage.

The rioting that happened after 11pm was something completely different.