This story will be updated
A calm night of protests took a turn late Friday night, when federal officers grabbed a protester who appeared to be tagging the federal courthouse with “RIP Dominique Dunn.” The officers pulled the person inside the building and closed the doors.
The gathering of about 200, one of quieter in recent weeks, then erupted in more collective chants and moved into the streets, blocking the intersection of Southwest Third Avenue and Main Street.
Soon after, Portland police confirmed federal officers had made “another arrest” that was “related to vandalizing the Federal Courthouse.” It appeared that an arrest was made around 9 p.m. also related to vandalism at the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building.
Protesters then set several fires, one on an effigy of a police officer wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and another in a dumpster moved into the intersection. Still, the gathering did not reach the level of tension seen at other protests in recent weeks and as of 11:45 p.m., Portland police were not on the scene.
Earlier Friday, the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front had called for protesters to gather at the Justice Center to recognize the death of Black Portlander the night before.
Several social media posts alleged that race was a factor in the shooting death of a man at a Southwest Portland strip club. On Friday, Portland police said they had interviewed multiple witnesses and found no evidence supporting that assertion.
Portland police have not confirmed the identity of the man who was shot, but on Facebook and Twitter, several family members of Portland man Dominique Dunn said he was the victim, and that a white man shot him after yelling a racist slur at him.
“Last night #Dominique Dunn was murdered in a racist hate crime in Portland, tonight we fight for him too,” tweeted the PNW Youth Liberation Front. “See you on the streets.”
Federal officers pull a protester into the Federal Courthouse on Friday night. Soon after, Portland police tweeted that federal officers arrested a protester around 11 p.m. "related to vandalizing the Federal Courthouse."
But the crowds were slow to form on Friday night. A small group of people started gathering near the Justice Center around 9 p.m., milling around and yelling “Black Lives Matter.” Yet while people have manned megaphones and rallied the crowds on other recent nights, no one appeared to take the lead on what many protest watchers called “the quietest night they have seen.”
By 11:45 p.m., the fire continued to burn in the street while the crowd of a couple hundred people continued to chant.
The federal officers’ actions come on same day President Donald Trump, speaking at a military base near Miami on Friday, said Portland officials have failed to adequately respond to the protests.
“It was out of control,” he said to acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. “The locals couldn’t handle it and you people are handling it very nicely.”
DHS officers’ presence comes at an incredibly tense moment for Portland. After Floyd’s death, the city for days saw marches and rallies that attracted more than 10,000 generally peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters to the downtown area. The police took a “mostly hands-off approach” to those events because they were orderly, Portland Deputy Chief Chris Davis said in a press conference on Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Federal officers seize protesters tagging federal buildings, triggering otherwise calm crowd - OregonLive
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