MONDAY, AUGUST 10 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
BY KATIE SHEPHERDportland, ore. — Robert D orris
leaned against the door frame of
his ground-floor apartment in
Portland, on the same block as the
police union’s headquarters, and
watched silently as a crowd of
black-clad p rotesters set fire to ply-
wood in the street.
His neighbors watched from
their balconies as the smoke bil-
lowed into the night sky. S ome pro-
testers below roasted marshmal-
lows while others added fuel to the
flames. More than 100 people were
in the street, holding Black Lives
Matter signs, dancing to music and
singing protest chants. At the po-
lice union building on the corner, a
small group of people hacked away
at t he plywood blocking the doors.
“You can’t control people’s an-
ger,” Dorris said, as the fire flick-
ered in front of him. “Black voices
have been silenced. We’ve been
screaming for years and years
about police violence.”
The 63-year-old Black man
gazed out at the largely White
crowd of protesters and smiled,
even as the smoke drifted into his
home.
“Every other week it seems like
they’re here,” he said. “I love it. Our
voices were ignored. They’re being
heard.”
The small group of protesters
chipping away at the plywood on
the police union building pried it
loose and set a small fire in the
entrance, igniting chunks of the
wood and tossing them inside. Mo-
ments later, Portland police de-
clared a riot, put out the flames and
began an hours-long game of cat-
and-mouse, chasing the protesters
down business-lined streets and
through a park in North Portland.
The Portland Police Bureau said
it made “several” arrests early Sun-
day morning, but it did not release
information on who was arrested
or how many people had been tak-
en into custody. By 2 a.m., the pro-
test had largely petered out.
There were multiple peaceful
protests around the city on Satur-
day, but after a brief lull following
the Trump administration’s p artial
retreat from the city last month,
the late-night protests have been
ratcheting up this past week with a
renewed focus on the Portland Po-
lice Bureau.
Portland police used tear gas
again on Wednesday after weeks of
refraining. On Friday night, videos
of two arrests sparked criticism
over the bureau’s tactics. One
showed a man who said he was
providing medical supplies
punched and pepper-sprayed in
the face as officers held him to the
ground. In t he other, a woman who
refused police orders to get out of
the street was surrounded by offi-
cers and tackled to the ground as
she pushed back. In both cases, it’s
not evident in the videos what pro-
ceeded the encounters.
“We do ask people not to rush to
judgment about a short clip at the
end of a confrontation,” Sgt. Kevin
Allen, a Portland police spokes-
man, t old The Washington Post.
Allen said he had no additionalinformation to share about the ar-
rests yet b ut added that the bureau
reviews all use-of-force incidents.
Portland police confirmed Sat-
urday that they are also investigat-
ing an alleged incident early Satur-
day that had many protesters on
edge. Police responded to a 911 call
about 2:30 a.m. reporting multiple
explosions in a Northeast Portland
park, where witness accounts post-
ed to social media allege that two
men threw small homemade
bombs at protesters gathered
there.
As anger has been bubbling
back up among demonstrators,
Portland Mayor Te d Wheeler, who
also serves as the city’s police com-
missioner, held a news conference
Thursday in which he likened
some of the protesters’ actions to
attempted murder. He pointed to
an incident Wednesday night in
which he said protesters barricad-
ed exits to the Portland Police Bu-
reau’s East Precinct building using
cars and wooden planks and dis-abled security cameras, starting a
fire that “was intended to cause
serious injury or death, and it very
well could have.”
“When you commit arson with
an accelerant in an attempt to burn
down a building that is occupied by
people who you have intentionally
trapped inside, you are not demon-
strating, you are attempting to
commit murder,” Wheeler said, ac-
cording to video posted by news
station KPTV. “You are creating the
B-roll film that will be used in ads
nationally to help Donald Trump
during his campaign. If you don’t
want to be part of that, then don’t
show up.”
Those comments riled many
people who drew comparisons to
the language used by President
Trump, who said in a recent Axios
interview that Wheeler was “lucky
he got away with his life” amid
crowds of protesters who were crit-
icizing his leadership during a
demonstration where he was af-
fected by federal officers’ tear gas.
The Portland police union presi-
dent also lashed out at p rotesters in
a heated letter on Thursday, claim-
ing that Portland has been “filled
with violence” after protesters set
fire to a trash can leaned against
the boarded-up wall of a police
precinct.
“I am disgusted that our City has
come to this,” said Daryl Turner, t he
police union’s p resident.
Most protesters seemed largely
undaunted by the police officers
outfitted in riot gear who showed
up to drive them away from the
police union building late Satur-
day.
Fleeing protesters pulled wood-
en barriers into the street to block
the officers’ path. They set another
fire in the street and braced for the
crowd-control weapons that have
become a nearly ubiquitous pres-
ence in the city since the protests
began in late May.
Portland police repeatedly
threatened to use tear gas, which
they are only permitted to use dur-
ing a riot, but they did not. A small
number of protesters tossed water
bottles and glass containers at the
officers. Portland police detonated
several flash-bang explosives in the
air and launched a few smoke can-
isters into the crowd. The well-
practiced protesters ignored the
smoke bombs, which were out
within minutes.
[email protected]Portland protesters set fire to police union headquarters
NOAH BERGER/ASSOCIATED PRESSTensions rise again
as officers declare a riot,
chase demonstratorsNATHAN HOWARD/ASSOCIATED PRESSTOP: Portland M ayor Ted Wheeler, who also serves as the city’s
police commissioner, speaks to Black Lives Matter protesters o n
July 22. ABOVE: Portland police try to disperse a crowd in front of
the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office early Saturday.Race in America@POSTLIVE #POSTLIVEBetsy HodgesFormer Minneapolis MayorHosted by Th e Post’s Jonathan Capeharton Monday, Aug. 10 at 12:00 p.m. ETTo receive a live streamreminder for this event,visit: washingtonpostlive.com