Violence continued in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday night into Sunday morning as a “peaceful protest” once again became a riot, with activists blockading streets, setting fire to the police union offices, and attacking local police.
According to a press statement by the Portland Police Department, several protests had been peaceful on Saturday until a march Saturday evening blocked traffic illegally outside the offices of the Portland Police Association, the local police union. “People within the crowd committed crimes when they erected a fence, pushed dumpsters into the street to block traffic, set a dumpster on fire, vandalized the PPA office with spray paint, and destroyed security cameras,” police said.
According to journalist Andy Ngô, members of the extremist group Antifa disabled an external security camera at the building:
The rioters then succeeded in breaking into the building, knocking through plywood and setting a fire inside it:
The Portland Police Department released a Ring video showing surveillance footage of the fire as it burned inside:
The crowd had also set several fires throughout the town, and had built several barricades, some apparently aflame, all over northern Portland. According to Ngô, rioters also threatened local residents who were watching the scene unfold:
Police attempted to disperse the crowd, and were attacked with glass bottles and lasers. Some officers were injured:
Officers from the Oregon State Police and PPB arrived in the area to disperse the crowd. They were met with a hostile crowd who began throwing glass bottles and paint balloons at them. The hostile crowd also tried to injure officers by shining green lasers into their eyes, which is a crime in Oregon. Three officers suffered injuries. Two were transported to an area hospital by police vehicle and later released. Personnel from Portland Fire and Rescue were able to gain access to the location and extinguish the fire inside the PPA Office.
While officers were moving rioters they came upon areas of the street where rioters built barricades with street closure signs, picnic tables, and other types of material. Rioters on the other side of the barricade were hurling objects at officers. At that point, officers were able to get around the barricade and continue to push the rioters away from the closure area. About 300 rioters gathered at Kenton Park.
Until recently, Democrats claimed the violence in Portland had been due to the presence of federal law enforcement, now withdrawn. Now, even Mayor Ted Wheeler, who had supported the riots, has begun likening them to attempted murder.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.