Portland parent groups marched in droves to Monday night to join downtown protests in response to the repeated and nightly use of force by federal agents on demonstrators.
Portlanders first started protesting police violence against Black Americans in late May. It wasn’t until 31 days later that federal officers were first seen at the nightly demonstrations. In the weeks since, federal agents have used less-lethal munitions and gas on protesters numerous times.
Federal officers again set off gas and shot projectiles towards demonstrators gathered early Tuesday morning. The nearly hour-long confrontation began after midnight. Hundreds of people had packed into the courthouse entrance, and some people near the front line tore off plywood attached to the building. Federal officers responded in force.
Their actions have drawn scrutiny from Oregon officials and support from President Donald Trump. The president again praised federal law enforcement Monday, saying they were doing a fantastic job in Portland. Trump said he planned to replicate the response in other major U.S. cities led by Democratic mayors.
Monday night’s demonstrations started around 9 p.m. Two groups, called the Wall of Moms and PDXDadPod, marched from the riverfront to Justice Center. The jail is at the heart of nightly protests. Two federal buildings sit on either side of it.
Even before the parents’ groups arrived, more than 300 people had gathered near the downtown jail. Young Black community leaders used a megaphone to ask, “Whose lives matter?” Hundreds of people responded, “Black lives matter!”
The crowd roared when the parents’ march of several hundreds of people arrived just before 9 p.m. and joined the chant. Most were women wearing yellow shirts. One person held a sign that said, “Hey feds, you need to think about your sad choices — Mom.”
The mothers’ group also attended Sunday night’s demonstration, linking arms and standing at the front of a crowd. Some on Twitter called for the dads group to bring leaf blowers Monday in order to blow away tear gas federal officers have used often on protesters.
By 9:15 p.m., more than 1,000 people had gathered in the area. The crowds filled Southwest Third Avenue and the nearby park in front of the jail. Almost everyone wore masks. Some people stood on the steps of the jail and delivered speeches to rally the crowd. When one person asked how many mothers were in the crowd, several hundred people rose their hands.
Police at first stayed away from the crowd, which appeared to have grown beyond 2,000 people by 9:45 p.m. One speaker encouraged people to vote and told them how to register, drawing a wave of cheers. Another person explained how to react to tear gas and other uses of force: “Stay together. Stay tight. We do this every night.”
As the speeches continued, one person walked amid the crowd with a child’s pool full of hundreds of pig squeak toys. An older man used a projector to display “Fed Goons out of PDX” on the Justice Center. Just after 10 p.m., hundreds of people waved the lights on their phones as people sang, “We Shall Overcome.”
Some people milled past the federal courthouse next to the Justice Center, but by 10:15 p.m., nearly everyone remained gathered in city streets, parks or property.
Many people in the crowd began to march west on Madison Street past City Hall around 10:20 p.m. A line of women from the Wall of Moms linked arms and walked at the front.
As people marched, they chanted the names of Black Portlanders killed during interactions with police or under suspicious circumstances, including Jason Washington, who was shot and killed by Portland State police in 2018.
Hundreds of people remained near the Justice Center or in adjacent city parks.
The march eventually wrapped to a George Floyd memorial in front of a boarded-up Apple store next to the Pioneer Place mall. After a moment of silence and a brief series of speeches, people started to make their way back to the Justice Center.
Marchers returned around 11:15 p.m. A crowd began to grow outside the federal courthouse. The group of parents marched around the Justice Center, then returned to stand in front of it on Third Avenue. More than 1,000 people remained downtown.
Around 11:35 p.m., federal officers set off smoke devices near the courthouse toward protesters who were knocking on the building. Within minutes, hundreds of people had collected in front of the courthouse. Several women with the Wall of Moms made their way toward the front, where federal officers have often emerged to deploy tear gas or shoot less-lethal munitions toward protesters.
Together, people chanted, “Feds go home!”
By midnight, the front line of crowd had pressed up directly against the building. Some people pushed a few pieces of dismantled fencing next to the courthouse. A handful of people used their fists or other objects to knock on the plywood that covers the building’s doors and windows. Hundreds of people surrounded them.
The tension remained high at 12:20 a.m. Some people started to tear off the plywood and other materials nailed to the front of the building.
At 12:25 a.m., police threw out devices that emitted smoke and an orange substance into the air. Many people in the crowd started to walk or run away. Within three minutes, federal officers emerged from the building to force people away. Officers wearing camouflage and dark uniforms largely cleared the crowd away from the building and continued to shoot impact munitions toward demonstrators.
Although the crowd had cleared away within five minutes, federal officers remained on the streets past 1 a.m.
Some federal officers pressed north on Third Avenue beyond the courthouse and past Salmon Street. Others advanced west on Main Street. Officers formed lines to prevent people from returning to the courthouse area. The agents continued to intermittently set off devices that emitted gas, sound and smoke to clear people out.
The confrontation continued for more than 45 minutes. Smaller crowds of people started to edge back to the courthouse from two directions, and federal officers used force or gas to keep people away.
Most federal officers eventually retreated around 1:15 a.m. Several people returned near the courthouse, and a few people threw water bottles at the building. Federal officers used peepholes cut into the plywood to shoot less-lethal munitions toward people gathered.
Hundreds of people remained in the neighborhood past 2:15 a.m. Most of those gathered with the parents groups had left.
After Oregonian/OregonLive journalists left the scene, live video footage showed federal officers emerged again from the courthouse around 2:30 a.m. and again used different types of weapons to break up the crowd. Before that, a small fire had started on a piece of plywood near the front of the building.
An earlier Black Lives Matter protest also took place Monday evening in Southeast Portland to honor Shai-India Harris, an 18-year-old who was shot and killed in the area July 10. Harris was shot and killed near Lents Park, where people gathered.
Brooke Herbert, Beth Nakamura and Tom Hallman Jr. of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
-- Ted Sickinger; tsickinger@oregonian.com; 503-221—8505; @tedsickinger
--Alex Hardgrave | ahardgrave@oregonian.com |@a_hardgrave
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