Portland Restaurant Burns After Owners Criticize Antifa Vandals

A restaurant in northeast Portland, Oregon, went up in smoke early Monday morning days after Antifa vandals struck other buildings in the neighborhood.

For the second time in three years, fire destroyed the Reo’s Ribs located in the Hollywood District. Prior to the incident, the brother of the affected restaurant owner criticized those committing property destruction, KOIN CBS6 reported.

Ricky Varnado, brother of Reo’s Ribs owner Reo Varnado, told reporters Saturday, “I just hope whoever is doing this, they would catch the people who’s doing it and be prosecuted for what they’ve done. I mean, because this is really a sad time of the year they are doing this, with the Coronavirus epidemic that’s going on, people are having a hard time trying to make it in life and this makes it even worse.”

The local CBS affiliate reported that the Varnado brothers are the uncles of hip hop superstar Snoop Dog.

Portland Fire Department officials ruled a 2017 fire that previously destroyed the restaurant to be an accident. Reo remains suspicious of the incident. He rebuilt the restaurant only to have it burned a second time.

When firefighters arrived on the scene Monday morning, they observed smoke pouring out of the rear of the building and flames both on the interior and exterior of the building. A cause of the fire has not yet been determined, the article states.

Independent journalist Andy NGO tweeted a video of firefighters working to extinguish the fire.

“Reo’s Ribs, a restaurant in Portland, was destroyed in a fire overnight,” Ngo tweeted. “It is next to the businesses that were vandalized last week by antifa. The owner gave an interview where he was critical of that vandalism against his neighbors.”

More than 100 Antifa rioters took to the streets of this neighborhood on Friday night and vandalized multiple businesses, Breitbart News reported.

Portland Police acknowledged that “a separate group of nearly 50 people gathered at NE Halsey St and NE 52nd Ave before moving to NE 43rd Ave and NE Sandy Blvd. As the group headed southwest on NE Sandy Blvd towards NE 40th Ave, they vandalized many businesses including many small businesses in their path.”

Despite the protest being publicized in advance, Portland Police Bureau officers made no arrests.