Crowds dressed in black descended on the city of Portland on Saturday night as part of a nationwide “Night of Rage” staged to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to return abortion law to individual states, potentially limiting access to the procedure that was previously guaranteed federally by Roe v. Wade.
The Portland Police Bureau stated the protesters damaged numerous businesses, but law enforcement was reportedly unable to intervene.
“If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either,” a flier posted at the site of the protest read.
Some Portland protestors attacked a pro-life center, Mother and Child, which — according to its website — gives “practical help to thousands of pregnant women in the greater Portland area since its founding in 1971.”
A Starbucks and Bank of America were also damaged in the Portland protest.
And Oregon Live reported that an aide to left-wing Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who supported violent protesters for months in the city following the death of George Floyd, called for more law enforcement. “It’s despicable,” Sam Adams said in the report. “We need more police.”
In Eugene, several protesters were arrested after the demonstration became violent, according to the Hill:
Authorities in Oregon arrested 10 protesters who were part of a large crowd supporting abortion rights after the demonstration turned violent.
Nine people were charged with disorderly conduct including one person who was additionally charged with escape in the third degree and resisting arrest. One person was charged with harassment.
Police reportedly tried to disperse the crowd after protesters began hurling smoke bombs and filled water bottles at officers. Officials said officers began making arrests but members of the crowd resisted, some of them violently. Officers began shooting inert pepperballs at the feet of the protesters, the department added, which eventually broke up the demonstration.
Police in the city of Eugene, Oregon, said in a news release that protesters clashed with officers and threw smoke bombs during the demonstration at a pregnancy center on Friday night.
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