PORTLAND, Oregon: A riot was declared in Oregon’s biggest city as protesters demonstrated outside a law enforcement building early Sunday, continuing a nightly ritual in Portland.
Officers used crowd control munitions to disperse the gathering outside the Penumbra Kelly building, news outlets reported.
Protesters had thrown “softball size” rocks, glass bottles and other objects at officers, police said on Twitter. The department also said security cameras had been spray painted and other vandalism occurred.
The actions came after what started as a peaceful protest, with demonstrators chanting “take it to the streets!”
Saturday afternoon, a rally by a small group of alt-right demonstrators quickly devolved as they traded paint balls and pepper spray with counter-protesters.
About 30 people were participating in the Patriot Prayer rally in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center. Several were armed with automatic weapons, KOIN-TV reported.
The group clashed with counter-protesters through downtown streets, and some counter-protesters blocked the exit of a garage where several Patriot Prayer members had parked.
A KOIN photojournalist reported hearing at least two gunshots at the garage. Police said in a statement that “a person allegedly fired a gun.” Portland police Lt. Greg Pashley told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the department would investigate.
Earlier in the day, police said they made four arrests overnight as they dispersed a protest that was headed toward the offices of the police union.
The bureau declared the demonstration of a couple hundred people an unlawful assembly Friday night, saying people were throwing fireworks, golf balls and chunks of concrete at officers. Officers said they used crowd control munitions but no CS tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Demonstrations, often violent, have happened nightly in Portland for more than two months following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Participants have repeatedly broken into the offices of the Portland Police Association, vandalized them and set fires.
Portland police declare riot, push protesters from building
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Portland police declare riot, push protesters from building
- Officers used crowd control munitions to disperse the gathering outside the Penumbra Kelly building
- About 30 people were participating in the Patriot Prayer rally in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center
California joins UN health network following US departure from WHO
- California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people
CALIFORNIA: California said on Friday it will become the first US state to join the World Health Organization’s global outbreak response network following the Trump administration’s decision to pull Washington out of the WHO.
The network, comprised of more than 360 technical institutions, responds to public health events with the deployment of staff and resources to affected countries. It has tackled major public health events, including COVID-19. The state’s decision to join the network comes more than a year after US President Donald Trump gave notice that Washington would depart from the WHO. On Thursday, it officially withdrew from the agency, saying its decision reflected failures in the UN health agency’s management of the pandemic.
California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people.
“California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”
The governor’s office said he met with the WHO’s Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, where they discussed collaborating to detect and respond to emerging public health threats.
The WHO did not immediately respond when reached for comment.
