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Rioters Smash Windows Of Portland City Hall, Force Their Way Inside

Holly MatkinAugust 26, 2020

Portland, OR – Rioters broke down the doors of Portland City Hall and made their way inside before violently clashing with police on Tuesday night.

Violent uprisings have been taking place in the city for the past 90 consecutive nights.

Approximately 150 people began marching from Shemanski Park at about 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 25, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) said in a press release.

Many members of the mob were carrying shields and wearing gas masks, body armor, and helmets.

They made their way to City Hall in the 1200-block of Southwest 4th Avenue and began vandalizing and spray-painting the building within minutes of their arrival, police said.

Other members of the group blocked traffic, while some rioters smashed a security camera and other “security features on the building,” according to the PPB.

The mob busted out windows and forced its way into the boarded-up building.

“Once crowd members had breached the doors to City Hall, several people entered the closed building, including those with ‘press’ affixed to their person,” the PPB said.

Police declared the gathering to be an unlawful assembly and order the crowd to disperse.

“After the crowd was advised to leave several times, most members stayed,” the department said. “Since the crowd did not leave, officers moved in and began to disperse the crowd.”

Officers pushed the mob away from City Hall, but most returned moments later and attempted to smash out the windows on the Southwest 5th Avenue side of the building, according to the press release.

They shined green lasers at officers who were using a sound truck to warn the group to leave the area.

A male rioter then ignited “an aerosol can while spraying it towards City Hall in an attempt to set the building on fire” at 11:10 p.m., PPB said.

Security guards were working inside the building at the time.

Police subsequently declared the gathering to be a riot.

As officers were dispersing the violent crowds, members of the group threw rebar ties into the roadway in an effort to deflate the tires of passing police vehicles, the PPB said.

Rioters used rental scooters to block traffic, shattered a bust stop shelter, hurled various projectiles at police, and shined a “blue laser” in an officer’s eyes on multiple occasions.

“This blue laser in particular can heat paper so hot that it will make it smoke within 3 seconds,” the department noted.

Police ultimately disengaged “in an effort to reduce the intensity of the situation,” but the mob returned to City Hall for a third time shortly thereafter, police said.

Officers deployed crowd control munitions on multiple occasions throughout the night, but did not use any CS gas.

Most of the crowd dispersed by approximately 1:30 a.m.

Police arrested 23 adults and detained two juveniles during the overnight chaos.

One of the rioters who was arrested had the word “press” affixed to his clothing, PPB said.

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Written by
Holly Matkin

Holly is a former probation and parole officer who is married to a sheriff’s deputy. She is a regular contributor to Signature Montana magazine, and has written feature articles for Distinctly Montana magazine.

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