PORTLAND, Ore. — Police declared a riot Saturday night in Northeast Portland after demonstrators started smashing windows at multiple businesses during a planned protest.
A group of about 150 people gathered at Irving Park before marching south on Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard and into the Lloyd District area around 7:15 p.m.
Police declared a riot by 7:45 p.m. when they witnessed individuals in the crowd vandalizing property.
The businesses that were hit include two phone stores, a coffee shop, a computer store, a community bank, a hotel, a restaurant, a financial office and two realty offices, police said, adding that some threw projectiles at officers and pepper sprayed bystanders.
Police used a loudspeaker to demand that rioters to leave the area, and they apologized to residents in the Lloyd District and Irvington neighborhoods for their loud announcements.
Police canceled the riot declaration just before 8:30 p.m. after getting most of the crowd to disperse.
No arrests were made during the riot, but police are investigating the acts of vandalism.
A group called Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation planned the protest for Halloween night to denounce capitalism.
Meanwhile, Vancouver police closed Esther Short Park at 7 p.m. Saturday, one night after demonstrators gathered there for a protest that became destructive following death of Kevin Peterson Jr., a 21-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by Clark County deputies.
Peterson, 21, was suspected of selling drugs in a parking lot in Hazel Dell when deputies approached him and he ran. Investigators said he pulled a gun before three deputies opened fire, killing him.
The circumstances surrounding his death are still under investigation.
