PORTLAND, Ore — Portland police officers arrested 20 people at two separate gatherings Thursday night and early Friday morning.
Groups gathered outside the Multnomah County Justice Center in downtown Portland and the police bureau's Southeast Precinct at Southeast 47th Avenue and East Burnside Street.
Around 10 p.m., Portland Police tweeted that they heard the crowd outside the precinct chanting that they wanted to enter the property and burn the building down. Police said protesters would be subject to arrest and use of force if they entered the property.
In downtown Portland, around 10:45 p.m., the crowd began removing a fence around Lownsdale Square, near Southwest 4th Avenue and Salmon Street. The fence was installed Thursday morning after police cleared demonstrators from Chapman Square and Lownsdale Square parks.
Portland police came to reinstall the fence and demonstrators threw bottles at officers.
Around 11:15 p.m., federal officers fired pepper balls at protesters who got too close to them. Shortly after that, a person lit a firework in the direction of the feds and they responded with tear gas, flashbangs and chasing people out of the area.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who was in Portland on Thursday, said in a tweet that two federal officers were injured by frozen bottles.
Meanwhile, at 11:45 p.m., the police bureau declared an unlawful assembly outside the Southeast Precinct and ordered everyone to leave. Police said people in the crowd threw rocks, bottles and sticks at officers.
Officers began dispersing the crowd and making arrests about 10 minutes later. Police said one of the group members drove up behind officers in a car and narrowly missed them.
Police stopped arresting people and the crowd returned to the precinct and blocked East Burnside Street.
Back downtown, the crowd dismantled most of the fence around Lownsdale Park and moved it into Southwest Main Street around 12:30 a.m.
At 12:45 a.m., police outside the Southeast Precinct dispersed the crowd and arrested several people.
Both crowds began to leave over the next few hours.
Portland police officers did not use any CS gas, the bureau said.
The following people were arrested:
- Tupac L. Leahy, 23: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- Alexandra Eutin, 24: Assaulting a Public Safety Officer
- Timothy P. Rasmussin, 27: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- Austin D. Zetting, 27: Disorderly Cond Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer, Criminal Trespass II
- Andria L. Wirthlin, 41: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- Alexa Grafera, 27: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- Samantha B. Hancock, 29: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer, Criminal Trespass II
- Sara Rider, 30: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- David Masterson, 24: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer, Criminal Trespass II
- Robert C. Erickson, 36: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- Gabriel Penk, 26: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer, Criminal Trespass II
- Timothy Swales, 31: Interfering with a Peace Officer, Reckless Endangering, Elude (Vehicle), Elude (Foot), Reckless Driving, Hit and Run
- Michael Joseph Dickerson, 30: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- Emma G. Boster, 25: Interfering with a Peace Officer, Resist Arrest
- Christopher Price, 35: Interfering with a Peace Officer, Criminal Trespass II
- Andrew D. Jankowski, 31: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer
- David M. Cole, 34: Disorderly Conduct II, Interfering with a Peace Officer, Criminal Trespass II
- Sean Jacobsen, 30: Interfering with a Peace Officer
- Aaron Carson, 23: Disorderly Conduct II
- John Alger, 23: Interfering with a Peace Officer
Nightly gatherings and violence have been going on in Portland for nearly two months. The violence and destruction in downtown Portland have also been in the national spotlight, as of late.
Wolf sent out a news release Thursday morning condemning "rampant, long-lasting violence" in Portland, complete with a timeline alleging violence by anarchists on Portland streets.
"This siege can end if state and local officials decide to take appropriate action instead of refusing to enforce the law. DHS will not abdicate its solemn duty to protect federal facilities and those within them. Again, I reiterate the Department’s offer to assist local and state leaders to bring an end to the violence perpetuated by anarchists,” Wolf said.
Portland city leaders said they did not ask for help from federal officers and they want them out of the city.