A3
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
Protesters, police clash in Portland
State and federal
leaders seek
investigation
Associated Press
PORTLAND — With
unrest continuing, the fed-
eral government is coming
under increasing scrutiny for
the activities of agents try-
ing to clamp down on pro-
tests in Oregon’s largest city
— demonstrations that Pres-
ident Donald Trump says
are led by “anarchists and
agitators.”
Protesters outside Port-
land’s U.S. courthouse set a
fi re in the building’s entry-
way early Monday in yet
another night of confl ict
with federal agents who
repeatedly tear gassed the
demonstrators to drive them
away, offi cials said.
Authorities over the
weekend erected large
fences around the building
in an effort to keep away the
protesters who have been on
Portland’s streets daily since
the police killing of George
Floyd in Minneapolis nearly
two months ago.
But video posted online
showed protesters taking
down the fencing and a state-
ment from Portland’s city
police department described
the protesters’ tactics as they
repeatedly headed toward
the courthouse and were
repelled by federal agents
who emerged from inside.
Hundreds of protest-
ers were at the scene Sun-
day night into early Mon-
day morning and at one
point “dozens of people with
shields, helmets, gas masks,
umbrellas, bats and hockey
sticks approached the doors”
of the courthouse until fed-
eral offi cers came out and
dispersed them, Portland
police said in a statement.
The protesters later lit a
fi re at about 1:30 a.m. Mon-
day within the portico of
the courthouse, Portland
police said, who stressed
Noah Berger/AP Photos
A protester burns an American fl ag outside the Mark O. Hatfi eld U.S. Courthouse on Monday in Portland.
that their offi cers were not
involved in any crowd con-
trol measures, did not fi re
tear gas and “were not pres-
ent during any of the activity
described.”
Other people added wood
and debris to the fi re to make
it larger and federal agents
came out of the courthouse
and “dispersed the crowd
and extinguished the fi re,”
according to Portland police.
The violence happened
as local and state lead-
ers expressed anger with
the presence of the federal
agents, saying that the city’s
protests had started to ease
just as the federal agents
started taking action on the
streets of Portland.
Grafi tti outside the Mark O. Hatfi eld U.S. Courthouse on Monday.
Speaking on CNN’s
“State of the Union,” Dem-
ocratic Mayor Ted Wheeler
said federal offi cers “are not
wanted here. We haven’t
asked them here. In fact, we
want them to leave.”
Top leaders in the U.S.
House said Sunday they
were “alarmed” by the
Trump
administration’s
tactics against protesters
in Portland and other cit-
ies, including Washington,
D.C. They’ve called on fed-
eral inspectors general to
investigate.
“This is a matter of
utmost urgency,” wrote
House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Jerrold Nadler,
D-New York, Homeland
Security Committee Chair-
man Bennie G. Thompson,
D-Mississippi, and Over-
sight and Reform Commit-
tee Chairwoman Carolyn
B. Maloney, D-New York,
in a letter to the inspectors
general of Department of
Justice and Department of
Homeland Security.
The Democratic lawmak-
ers are seeking an investiga-
tion “into the use of federal
law enforcement agencies
by the Attorney General
and the Acting Secretary of
Homeland Security to sup-
press First Amendment pro-
tected activities in Wash-
ington, D.C., Portland, and
other communities across
the United States.”
Trump has decried the
demonstrations, and Home-
land Security Secretary
Chad Wolf labeled the pro-
testers as “lawless anar-
chists” in a visit to Portland
last Thursday.
“We are trying to help
Portland, not hurt it,” Trump
tweeted Sunday. “Their
leadership has, for months,
lost control of the anarchists
and agitators. They are miss-
ing in action. We must pro-
tect Federal property, AND
OUR PEOPLE. These were
not merely protesters, these
are the real deal!”
Late Saturday, Portland
police said protesters broke
into the building of the Port-
land Police Association
labor union that represents
offi cers. Dumpster fi res
were also set and fencing
was moved and transformed
into barricades, police said.
Oregon Attorney Gen-
eral Ellen Rosenblum sued
Homeland Security and the
Marshals Service in fed-
eral court late Friday, alleg-
ing that unidentifi ed federal
agents grabbed people from
Portland’s streets “with-
out warning or explanation,
without a warrant, and with-
out providing any way to
determine who is directing
this action.”
Rosenblum said she
was seeking a temporary
restraining order to “imme-
diately stop federal authori-
ties from unlawfully detain-
ing Oregonians.”
It was not immediately
unclear whether anyone was
arrested or detained during
the protest that started Sun-
day night.
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