Black Lives Matter protesters march through Portland, Ore. after rallying at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Chaos and destruction continued this week in Portland, Oregon. The latest round of riots, which took place Thursday night, resulted in the arrest of 12 people, serious injury of one police officer and the harassment of three senior citizens.
According to police, it all went down after protesters targeted the East Precinct.
Members of the group were wearing helmets and carrying shields. Using spray paint, they tried to cover the precinct’s surveillance cameras, while others tried to knock them down.
Two elderly community members reportedly attempted to stop the group, but were hit with paint.
Portland Antifa/Black Lives Matter dumped paint on and cussed out an old lady like feral animals. pic.twitter.com/rLuEPdxdyv
— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) August 7, 2020
Shortly thereafter, city officials formally declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and asked all demonstrators to move away from the precinct.
However, protesters resisted. They set fire to a trash can outside the building, using blue heart shaped thank you notes to Portland Police as fuel.
A small fire has been set in this metal drum, & paint has been thrown on the wooden reinforcements of the East Precinct building entrance. #PortlandProtest #pdxprotest #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/KxPYhbQXOU
— Portland Independent Documentarians (@PDocumentarians) August 7, 2020
FILE – In this July 29, 2020, file photo, a demonstrator kicks a tear gas canister back at federal officers during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
A third senior citizen then attempted to step in and put a stop to the destruction.
This appears to be the elderly woman who was assaulted & had paint thrown on her for trying to put out an illegal fire in Portland
— ELIJAH-19 (@ElijahSchaffer) August 7, 2020
City police were deployed to break up the scene, where they were hit with glass bottles and rocks. One of these projectiles left an unidentified officer seriously injured.
Mayor Ted Wheeler recently condemned the violence, which has notably continued despite the DHS taking a back seat to the Oregon state police.
