A crowd of about 1,000 gathered in downtown Portland late Sunday for the city’s 60th night of consecutive protests against racism and police brutality after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd sparked a widespread movement two months ago.
What started as a relatively calm night devolved as some in the crowd launched fireworks toward the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. Federal officers responded with gas and crowd-control munitions.
Just before 7:30 p.m. Sunday, before the protests had begun in earnest, Portland police responded to a reported shooting near Southwest Fourth Avenue and Salmon Street. The intersection marks the northwest corner of Lownsdale Square, where large crowds of demonstrators gathered later in the evening.
Portland police said the person is expected to survive after suffering a gunshot wound.
Two people were taken into custody, according to police. They were later released, and no one has been arrested, police said.
It’s unclear whether the shooting was related to the protests. Only a small group of people had gathered, video streamed from the scene showed.
Portland police also tweeted a picture of rifle ammunition magazines and Molotov cocktails the agency said it had seized from Lownsdale Square after a bystander pointed out a bag.
The agency said later it hadn’t identified where the bag came from. It didn’t appear to be related to the shooting, according to police.
By the time a larger crowd gathered around 9 p.m., investigating police had left the area.
Sunday’s demonstration drew a smaller crowd than recent nights, when protesters could be counted in the multiple thousands. Early in the evening, the crowd divided itself between the federal courthouse and the Multnomah County Justice Center, where a public address system was set up for speakers.
Loretta Smith, a former Multnomah County Commissioner and candidate for Portland City Council, appeared at the protest and addressed the crowd around 9:30 p.m. Smith led a chant of “Black moms matter” before asking protesters for their votes.
Later speakers tried to draw protesters away from a potential confrontation at the courthouse, where federal police have responded aggressively to attempts to breach the fence that now surrounds the building. “Let’s use our power to do something new,” one speaker said.
Just before 11 p.m., though, the speeches petered out and people began migrating toward the courthouse fence. Exterior lights at the building were turned off, and federal police had not yet emerged from inside.
Shortly before midnight, some in the crowd began setting off fireworks toward the courthouse, ratcheting up tensions on what had been an otherwise calm night. Some people climbed over the fence, entering the courthouse portico, shortly thereafter, according to Portland police.
People also lit a large fire in Lownsdale Square, police said.
Shortly after midnight, the exterior lights at the federal courthouse turned out and police ordered protesters to disperse, declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly. Within minutes, federal officers emerged from the building, firing crowd-control weapons and deploying gas.
Some moved away or left, but hundreds remained at 12:15 a.m. More warnings to move away from the courthouse followed.
The Federal Protective Service said on a loudspeaker that officers had been hit with projectiles. After officers retreated back inside, some in the crowd could be seen throwing glass bottles toward the building.
Federal officers deployed more gas and crowd-control munitions as the night wore on, and the crowd dwindled, though several hundred remained at 1 a.m.
Another fire was started just inside the fence about that time, according to police. The blaze was out within about a minute, police said.
Shortly after 1 a.m., a video stream from journalist Andrew Kimmel showed federal police lining up in the street in front of the courthouse. They then forced protesters away from the courthouse using batons and what appeared to be pepper balls and pepper spray. Federal officers could be seen detaining several people.
Officers then pushed groups of protesters into downtown streets, splintering the crowd.
Officers retreated shortly after 2 a.m., deploying gas as they headed back toward the federal courthouse.
It’s unclear how many people, if any, were ultimately arrested.
-- K. Rambo, Jamie Hale and Mark Graves
Jim Ryan of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
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