PORTLAND, OREGON–Police arrested more than 20 people in the fifth consecutive day of rioting and clashes with police by mobs of leftist protesters who say they are furious about the election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States.
The revolutionaries hurled bricks and rocks at police and fought with a news crews in the latest street battle during an hours-long standoff that began shortly before 7 p.m. local time. Police were surrounded and taunted by hundreds of protesters shouting “Fuck Donald Trump” and chanting leftist slogans such as “the people united will never be divided.”
The rioters came even after Portland Police and Mayor Charlie Hales pleaded for calm at a press conference Saturday afternoon and protest organizers announced that they had no events planned for that evening.
At the Saturday’s presser–the second in as many days–Mayor Hales said “I’m really heartsick that our local small businesses who had no culpability in what happened in this election, far from it, have been harmed by people that just wanted to exploit the protest to raise hell.”
Hales’ and other local authorities’ statements that “peaceful protests” are being marred by a few fringe players stands in stark contrast to the protest organizers’ refusal to rule out the use of a ‘diversity of tactics,” a term that leftist protesters use to describe a spectrum of action from peaceful protests to outright violence.
Exclusive footage from Breitbart News shows an example of a fight over a “diversity of tactics” maneuver as one masked anarchist attempts to block a street using a police barricade during Saturday night’s fracas near Pioneer Square. Two other protesters attempt to stop him from barricading the street and are promptly told by yet another protester that they have no right to interfere.
As local TV Station KOIN reported on the comments of Portland Police Chief Mike Marshman, the Chief doesn’t appear to recognize that many leftists view battling the police as a valid form of protest:
“I don’t think they’re out there to protest. I think they’re out there to battle the police,” Marshman said. “We’re taking rocks and bottles and flares.”
Law enforcement officers from other agencies in the metro area have been called in to help Portland Police. Marshman said they have limited resources at PPB and the long days take their toll on officers.
“They were confronted with real provocation and they met it with appropriate force,” Hales said. “Yes they had to use distraction devices, yes they had to use tear gas — those were the right things to do when they were having rocks and bottles thrown at them.”
https://twitter.com/RedCleaver/status/797709119863996416
Earlier Saturday, police also announced the arrest of two suspects for attempted murder after a man was shot on the Morrison Bridge during Friday night’s protest in a crime authorities say is gang related.
Post-election protests continued in other cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Indianapolis.
This is a developing story…
Follow Breitbart News investigative reporter and Citizen Journalism School founder Lee Stranahan on Twitter at @Stranahan.
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