Clashes between police and protesters on the 34th night of demonstrations stretched for a nearly mile through North Portland late Tuesday, leading to police using tear gas and leaving some drivers caught in the crosshairs.
The confrontations occurred after several hundred people marched more than a mile from Peninsula Park in Northeast Portland to the Portland Police Association headquarters in North Portland. The crowd arrived on the eve of a planned vote to extend the union contract and was met by dozens of officers in riot gear.
As police pressed the crowd away from the building, nearby residents and store customers emerged to watch and to record the confrontation as it unfolded. Police used CS gas, a type of tear gas, at least once — despite a federal court order that temporarily bars police from using tear gas, unless officers believe someone’s life or safety is in danger. Lawyers for the group that filed the lawsuit, Don’t Shoot Portland, filed court papers Tuesday urging the judge to sanction the city for failing to heed the order during previous demonstrations.
The protests have occurred every night since late May as part of a global movement calling for an end to police violence.
The tear gas used Wednesday wafted past protesters to drivers and bystanders near North Lombard Street and Interstate Avenue, a busy intersection with two MAX stops, two bus stops, a Fred Meyer and two gas stations.
People reacted to the gas by streaming east and south. Some drivers on Lombard were trapped by the crowd and tear gas. Terrance Williams, 40, of Portland said he was driving to a relative’s house when he got stuck in the traffic. Gas poured into his car, even though the car windows were up.
“I couldn’t see,” Williams said. “I couldn’t breathe. I was hyperventilating.”
Williams said he respects the Black Lives Matter movement. He said he believes protests that result in violence do not create positive change. But he noted that most protesters aren’t violent, and police should be more willing to listen and compromise, rather than respond to protests with threatening actions.
Police quickly labeled the gathering an “unlawful assembly” soon after marchers gathered outside the police union building about 9 p.m. Officers ordered the crowd to move east from Campbell Avenue, but people remained near the building.
Within 10 minutes, a line of officers wearing riot gear forced the crowd to move east. State troopers also helped police the protest.
A Portland police officer used a loudspeaker to repeatedly order protesters to keep moving east. Police appeared to use some type of impact munitions to try to push the crowd.
“Failure to comply with this lawful may subject you to arrest and crowd-control munitions,” police said. “Officers are taking lawful action. Do not interfere with officers taking lawful action.”
Police detained at least four people as they continued to press the crowd east on Lombard toward Interstate Avenue. The crowd chanted, “I don’t see no riot here! Take off your riot gear!”
By 10 p.m., hundreds of marchers remained about two blocks from the building. Police again used a loudspeaker to order the crowd to move because of “criminal activity” that affected the “safety of others.”
Police later said some demonstrators threw baseball-size rocks, water bottles and full cans at officers. Several officers were hit by rocks and needed medical attention, according to police.
Some protesters started lighting commercial-grade fireworks and throwing them toward officers at 10:12 p.m., police said. An Oregonian/OregonLive reporter observed fireworks being sent into the air above demonstrators or fizzling out in the space between officers and protestors.
Police declared the event a “riot” and told people to immediately leave. Shortly thereafter, police announced, “Disperse the area now. CS gas is being used.”
Protesters reacted to the tear gas by streaming east and south.
Police and protesters remained apart until about 10:30 p.m., when officers advanced east on Lombard past Interstate Avenue. As officers and protesters walked east, they navigated around traffic on Lombard. The crowd stopped near northbound Interstate 5 off-ramps that lead to Lombard. Traffic backed up on the I-5 ramps as the crowd made its way by.
Officers told people to keep walking two blocks, until marchers passed Albina Avenue. At least 150 protesters and 50 officers remained near the area. Police set off devices to disperse the crowd then left en masse about 10:45 p.m.
Many people began to march back toward the area police had pushed them out of. Police gathered again at Interstate Avenue by 11 p.m. to prevent people from walking any farther west.
The police line then pressed toward protesters to force the crowd for a second time to move east. Officers used noise machines to make announcements and emit loud noises. Several officers arrived on a vehicle and rushed toward protesters, detaining at least two of them.
Some people pushed dumpsters toward the area and lit the contents on fire.
Police did not immediately leave after protesters walked past Albina, as officers initially demanded. The police line stood on the west side of Albina. Protesters remained at the opposite side.
As police and protesters faced off, livestream videos appeared to show at least two officers detain independent journalist Cory Elia soon after Elia identified one of the officers by name.
Both police and protesters remained in the area at 11:30 p.m. Police asked people to move out of the street and onto the sidewalk. Police continued to push the crowd east, detaining people as they pressed forward.
As the crowd walked past more homes and a neighborhood bar, residents stood near their front doors and peeked out their windows to watch the march pass.
After many people reached Commercial Avenue, police loaded into vehicles and left about 12:15 a.m. The crowd cheered and clapped. At least one Portland officer waved to the crowd as the van they were on drove away.
About 100 people continued to march east toward Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where they turned south. Protesters reached Killingsworth Street about 12:40 a.m., according to live stream videos shared on social media.
When the group arrived, they paused near the North Portland police precinct, the site of an overnight clash between protesters and police Thursday. People parked their cars near the building and used their car horns to drown out police.
An officer used a loudspeaker to announce the protest had to disperse because of “criminal activity.” Police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly about 12:45 a.m. Officers pressed the crowd west on Killingsworth, away from the building.
“Leave the area now,” an officer said on the loudspeaker. “It is time to go home.”
The hourslong demonstration started in Peninsula Park at 3 p.m. for a potluck, then several people spoke at a rally before the crowd marched to the police union building.
Elia, the independent journalist who was arrested, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center early Wednesday. Jail records list accusations of assaulting a police officer, interfering with a peace officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. He’s since been released from custody.
Video footage posted to Twitter shows a second independent journalist, Lesley McLam, in police custody. A woman referred to in court records as Lesley McClain was later jailed on suspicion of interfering with a peace officer and rioting.
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon and a San Francisco-based law firm had previously filed a class-action lawsuit against the city and police “on behalf of journalists and legal observers who were targeted and attacked by the police while documenting protests in Portland over the killing of George Floyd.”
Attorneys earlier Tuesday asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting officers from using physical force against journalists or legal observers, arresting or threatening to arrest them or using “indiscriminate munitions” on crowds “where journalists or legal observers are likely to be present,” among other actions.
Neither Elia nor McLam are named as plaintiffs in the suit, though Elia is referenced in the complaint.
Several people were arrested during the demonstration. Final figures weren’t immediately available.
Protesters also gathered Tuesday night outside the downtown Justice Center, where demonstrations have continued every night since May 28.
Alex Hardgrave of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
-- Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey
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