Police declared a protest in Portland, Oregon to be a ‘riot’ on Tuesday night and quickly deployed flash grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd – despite a court-ordered ban on CS gas being used by officers.
The confrontation unfolded after several hundred people marched a mile from Peninsula Park to the Portland Police Association headquarters on the 1800 block of North Lombard Street.
By 10:13pm, police declared the disturbance a riot, warning those gathered that, ‘If you do not disperse to the east you are subject to arrest of use of force, to include crowd control munitions.’
‘Officers are taking lawful action. Do not interfere with officers taking lawful action,’ law enforcement told the crowd.
Two minutes later, at 10:15pm, officers began administering CS gas – a type of tear gas – to restore order.
Last month a federal court judge banned police from using CS gas on protesters until at least July 24, unless in a ‘life-threatening’ situation.
Police declared a protest in Portland, Oregon to be a ‘riot’ on Tuesday night and quickly deployed flash grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd – despite a court-ordered ban on CS gas being used by police
The confrontation unfolded after several hundred people marched a mile from Peninsula Park to the Portland Police Association headquarters on the 1800 block of North Lombard Street
The reasoning behind the police declaring the scene a ‘riot’ remains unclear. The Portland Police Department has not yet returned a DailyMail.com request for comment on the matter.
Moments earlier, police had urged the crowd to move away from the PPA building because of ‘criminal activity’ that affected ‘the safety of others’. However the alleged illegal wrongdoing remained unspecified.
A few members of the crowd were seen throwing water bottles that landed near police, splashing water towards officers, The Oregonian reported. Others were seen setting up trash bins to block off the road.
The protesters reacted to the tear gas by heading east and south. Officers ordered them to keep walking two blocks away, until they passed Albina Avenue.
At least 150 protesters remained outside the PPA building, and were accompanied by around 50 police officers.
Police then set off more devices disperse the crowd before protesters left en masse at around 10:45pm.
Within 15 minutes, a large crowd of people began to march back towards the area that police had forced them away from.
Police gathered at Interstate Avenue to block the protesters from advancing any further west. The officers then pressed towards the crowd, using noise machines to make announcements and emit harsh sounds to encourage the demonstrators to leave.
Several officers arrived in vehicles and rushed towards activists, detaining at least two. Four others were arrested shortly afterwards.
As the face off continued, videos from social media appeared to show two officers detaining freelance journalist Cory Elia soon after he identified one of the officers by name.
The confrontation unfolded after several hundred people marched a mile from Peninsula Park in Northeast Portland to the Portland Police Association headquarters as demonstrations in the city against police brutality continued for a 33rd consecutive night
Last month a federal court judge banned police from using CS gas on protesters until at least July 24, unless in a ‘life-threatening’ situation
The protesters reacted to the tear gas by heading east and south. Officers ordered them to keep walking two blocks away, until they passed Albina Avenue
Several officers arrived in vehicles and rushed towards activists, detaining at least two. Four others were arrested shortly afterwards
Both police and protesters remained in the area at 11:30pm. The crowd was eventually shepherded to Commercial Avenue, where police loaded into vehicles and left the scene at around 12:15am.
Their departure was met with cheers and claps from the crowd. At least one police officer waved back to protesters as their vehicle pulled away from the scene, Oregon Live reported.
A crowd of 100 protesters continued marching into the early hours of the morning. The procession arrived outside the North Portland police precinct at around 12:40am, where an overnight clash had occurred between police and protesters on Thursday.
An officer on a loudspeaker warned the crowd it needed to disperse because of unspecified ‘criminal activity’. Police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly around 12:45am and moved in the press the crowd west.
‘Leave the area now,’ an officer said on the loudspeaker. ‘It is time to go home.’
Portland has been a site of frequent protesters since the May 25 police death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The demonstrations continued for a 33rd consecutive night on Tuesday.
Other riots and protests have occurred in all 50 states across the country as crowds protest what they say has been a pattern of police brutality against African-Americans and other minorities.