Riot declared as fire burns in Portland police union offices

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MARTHA BELLISLE and GILLIAN FLACCUS

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A fire inside a police union building led authorities in Portland, Oregon, to declare a riot and force protesters away from the offices as violent demonstrations continue in the city that had hoped for calm after federal agents withdrew more than a week ago.

Three officers were hurt, including two who were taken to a hospital, during efforts to clear a crowd of several hundred people outside the Portland Police Association building late Saturday, police said in a statement. The two hospitalized officers have since been released.

Rallies had been held earlier in the afternoon and evening throughout the city, including at Peninsula, Laurelhurst and Berrydale parks, local media reported.

Police said a group from Peninsula Park marched to the Portland Police Association building, which is located about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of the federal courthouse that had been the target of nightly violence earlier this summer. The Portland Police Association is a labor union that represents members of the Portland Police Bureau.



Portland police officers walk through the Laurelhurst neighborhood after dispersing protesters from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office early in the morning on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020 in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)


Read more: https://apnews.com/8989613837e2046e35caf68916e8e90d

[IronLionZion]

1. Do they want Trump's goons to come back for more brutality?

It looks like a residential neighborhood. People must be living there.

[Crowman2009]

2. That's what happens when you request that unmarked Feds to snatch people into unmarked vans.

[2naSalit]

7. And then assist them. Also for

calling protests riots so they can supposedly justify their violence.

[CentralMass]

16. I just caught some coverage on kgw8 of last night. They showed

A group moving a dumpster into the middle if the street turning over and lighting it on fire then another clip of a group lighting the fire in the union building.
What started this was rioting back on day 1 back on May 30th. The federal building was vandalized, a fires set inside. Then nightly attacks/provocations at that fenced off building to provoke an illegal assembly. For 34 or 35 nights before tRump brought in the feds on July 3rd or 4th. The violent faction of these protests started this and continue to propagate it.

[Blues Heron]

3. for four years you couldn't get a millennial to protest - now they wont stop lol!

They're like energizer bunnies! 60 straight days!

[IronLionZion]

5. Get off my lawn!

Their moms, dads, and grandparents have also been protesting against police brutality, but probably not burning down buildings.

[Blues Heron]

6. I know! I'm half kidding

seriously though they protested once at the very beginning of Trump - straight from brunch - you could smell the chardonnay. They brought their dogs! it was cute - then nothing. Crickets for four years. There was a women's march that they BOYCOTTED because... Israel??? Good to see they found their voice. Enough already though jebus.

[oldsoftie]

10. It stopped being about police brutality a long time ago.

These types are out for one thing; destruction of everything that is our system of government.

[llashram]

12. yeah sure and

these types" are probably outside agitators and I would go so far to say, undercover right-wing agitators, provocateurs to stir the pot to make peaceful turn into something else. Now you can believe what you may to help you to feel comfortable making the peaceful protestors look like Antifa or whatever you believe. I want the whole story and our media is just interested in money created by their framing of events for drama's sake. Our media has normalized this administration for three long years. Now all the sudden trumps lies, deceit, corruption, nepotism are being exposed, love that Jonathan Swan.

[oldsoftie]

29. Yeah, because no one on the far left EVER causes any trouble.

Why is it so hard to accept that LEFT wing agitators exist just as RIGHT wing ones? They both cause trouble, break things & make real progress harder. They are public about their goals; all you have to do is listen to them. And if they're fake, today its very easy to expose them. But hey, whistle past the graveyard.

[llashram]

32. I accept what you postulate IS true

I, as one who learned from the last revolution in America for human, civil and voting rights that the idea of RW agitators is a distinct possibility. You would have me believe that it just has to be LW agitators that are the bad guys. NO. While a possibility I have seen their protests, especially after trumps storm troopers left, as peaceful and necessary to keep the cause of these protests in front of the American people. BLM always. And George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland et al. died needlessly because of racist police in a systemically and institutionally racist country. As far as you saying "easy to spot" it is sometimes easy to spot RW agitators sent by individuals like Barr but not if they have been there a while now, which is a possibility. I just can't damn all of our protestors. I remember Watts and the reasons why. If it's just LW agitators causing trouble. Protestors are unarmed for the most part facing robocops in the streets, federal and local who have no qualms about seriously injuring vets, moms, they were unarmed. Lots of bad blood out there.

The ultimate cause is being forgotten or attention diverted with distraction.

[oldsoftie]

36. "The ultimate cause is being forgotten". I totally agree & have said similar.

When an almost totally white city has constant violence we can be pretty sure its NOT about George Floyd anymore.

[LeftInTX]

21. But will they vote?

[B Stieg]

4. Stop Burning Shit Down

I'm not there, but c'mon, protestors! You won, but this trouble doesn't feel like "good trouble" any more.

[former9thward]

8. They have not "won" anything.

What is it do you think they won? They are mostly anarchists and are not looking for the same things you or I are looking for.

[oldsoftie]

11. Exactly. The original message was hijacked a month ago.

Now they're just embarrassing themselves.

[Raine]

41. Exactly, this has gone on way too long. nt

[LeftInTX]

22. Exactly

[Polybius]

28. They won a few things

Name changes for the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians, no more Mississippi Confederate state flag, no more Aunt Jamima, and name changes for Eskimo Pies and one other product that escapes me now.

[oldsoftie]

42. Yay. That improved SO many lives. Again, none of that was the point of the protests.

Police brutality was. Something meaningful. Something that costs lives & injures people all over the country
Instead, its gotten so ridiculous that we have a black actress apologizing for playing a black character because she wasnt 100% black.

[2naSalit]

9. Agents provacateurs...

Are usually the ones who start the fires, right on queue, so the beatings can begin.

[beachbumbob]

13. protestors are doing themselves NO favors and really wrecks legit forms of protest

I have no problem with law enforcement doing what needs to be done to restore order and make massive arrests. Enough is enough

[McKim]

14. These are not protestors

These are not protestors. They are right wing agitators who gave anarchists punks an extra boost to cause destructive trouble. They destroyed windows and businesses downtown early on. They targeted businesses owned by people of Middle Eastern backgrounds and tried to make it look like it was BLM. I smell a rat in last night’s actions.

[beachbumbob]

15. then no problem with mass arrests right?

[LeftInTX]

25. Even right wing agitators have rights

I think many of these are "non wing agitators".

We had a riot in San Antonio. I saw the mug shots etc.
The people arrested seemed to have nothing to do with any political anything.
They showed up after the protests were over and were probably downtown already and up to no good.
Most had previous arrests...AKA plain old trouble makers, the kind of people you wouldn't want your kids hanging around with.

[fmdaddio]

30. The protesters

need to watch for these outsiders and get them on video whenever possible. It is a fact that when the protests started right wing message boards lit up with calls to infiltrate these events and cause trouble. Calls to "wear black and hoodies and get your looting on" among other crap. Also there's good old Fox news taking a incident with firecrackers and reporting it as a bombing. John Oliver did a great job highlighted that last week.

[DENVERPOPS]

31. My Exact Thoughts McK...........nc

Black operation - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org › wiki › Black_operation
A black operation or black op is a covert or clandestine operation by a government agency, ... a significant degree of deception, to conceal who is behind it or to make it appear that some other entity is responsible ("false flag" operations).

[MrModerate]

17. So, in addition to peaceful protestors, Portland is now down to a hard core of...

Determined, anti-police wreckers, who feel no reason to stop nightly vandalism? This is not good.

[dware]

18. That pretty much sums it up. nt

[LeftInTX]

24. Trump wants to tie Joe Biden to them

It's a bunch of baloney.

But that's the goal.

If Trump is the law and order president, why are these vandals running around? Certainly a great law and order president would be able to set a peaceful tone...

[still_one]

19. Whether intended or not, this only helps trump. Three months to change things

[JohnnyRingo]

20. I'll quote The Notorious RGB here

"Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that leads others to join you".

Don't burn it all down.

[NewDayOranges]

23. Total speculation on my part...

Someone in the Police Union started the fire and then pointed to the protesters saying: They did it!

[Tommymac]

26. This has to be RW agitators...can't believe the BLM would do this after John Lewis' message.

Can't believe any legitimate group would do this, to be frank.

[roamer65]

27. The pigs burned their own office.

IMO

[stopdiggin]

33. the way to address this

And (writing from halfway across the country, I think it needs to be addressed) is that "peaceful protest" needs to get the hell off the streets -- particularly at night. Do your thing in the park (or in front of the court house, police station, etc.) from 3 until 6p -- and then go home. Starve the fire of its oxygen. Make it clear that the people out late into the night -- with specific targets selected, and an agenda for confrontation -- do not represent you or BLM.

Because if it's 2AM in the morning -- and you're looking for a fight -- you're not Portland Mom.

[fmdaddio]

34. Attention Portland Protesters

This would be a smart strategy to adopt. The light of day strategy.

[BadGimp]

35. I'm convinced there are instigators involved...

no evidence just my instincts...

[rockfordfile]

38. I agree. what happen to those Russians arrested? there are others

[John Drake]

37. But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao

You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow

[regnaD kciN]

39. It was bound to happen...

Things were starting to calm down once the feds left. Then a group decided to hold a protest in front of a local law enforcement building instead of the federal courthouse, and the local sheriff's office overreacted, declaring an "illegal assembly" when there was nothing remotely threatening going on, and using excessive force on protesters (and the media) to drive them away from the building and pursue them into a residential area. Since then, the protests have moved on to the PPB and Multnomah Sheriff's Department, and have been met by the same hair-trigger response night after night. Tensions have been mounting for the past week, and I'm not surprised this happened. While people were (rightly) focusing on the federal presence throughout July, the fact remains that local LE in Portland has a pretty bad track record of having "friendly" ties to the Proud Boys and other white nationalist groups, and has been (justly, if one looks at the news coverage) accused of a double-standard when it comes to strict treatment of leftist groups while taking a far more tolerant attitude to far-right groups.

[eilen]

40. FFS enough is enough.

I don't agree that burning buildings is any kind of peaceful protest or statement and also eff "rioters". This is not a riot, it is planned violence against the community in Portland.

[SharonClark]

43. Well stated.