Portland Protests Reach 100 Consecutive Days This Weekend
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Protesters marched through the streets of Portland, US state of Oregin, on Friday night to a police building, where officers stood waiting outside, as the city reached 100 straight nights of protests that have been marked by vandalism and violence.
Dozens of demonstrators met at Kenton Park before making their way to the Portland Police Association building, near North Denver Avenue and North Lombard Street. By 10 p.m. police warned protesters to stay off the streets and private property or they may be subject to citation, arrest, the use of tear gas, crowd-control agents or impact munitions, AP reported.
Demonstrations in Portland started in late May after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A slaying of a right-wing Trump supporter shot and killed after he came downtown last weekend with a pro-Trump caravan of pickup trucks further roiled things in the liberal city. The prime suspect in the shooting, self-described anti-fascist Michael Forest Reinoehl, was killed Thursday night by law enforcement.
The exact date of the 100-day milestone depends on how the protests are counted, but everyone agrees the benchmark falls over the Labor Day weekend. Black Lives Matter protests, vigils and speeches marking the occasion are planned over three days, and Trump supporters are planning another caravan rally.
Since Floyd's killing, nights of unrest that increasingly targeted a federal courthouse prompted US President Donald Trump to dispatch US agents to guard the building in July.
The presence of the agents from US Customs and Border Protection, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the US Marshals Service was intended to tamp down on the demonstrations but instead reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement.
The US agents began drawing down July 31 under an agreement between the US Department of Homeland Security and Democratic Gov. Kate Brown. But as the unrest has continued and picked up, federal authorities have again said they may increase their presence in the city.
