Police declare riot, make arrests after crowd gathers near Portland Police Association building
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Portland, OR ( KPTV) — Police declared a riot early Tuesday morning as demonstrators took to the streets near the Portland Police Association building.
At around 9:48 p.m. Monday, police tweeted that demonstrators were blocking the roadway in the 1800 block of North Lombard Street.
Multiple verbal warnings were given, telling the crowd to leave the street or be subject to arrest or force. Police made several arrests, and at least one was captured on the Portland police livestream.
According to police, other demonstrators interfered with an arrest and struggled with officers to free the person.
Just before 11 p.m., police tweeted about confusion in the crowd about an incident that occurred on Saturday near the Federal Courthouse where a protester was injured by a federal officer. Police said PPB officers were not involved in the incident.
As the demonstration continued, officers saw people in the area of North Lombard Street and Campbell Avenue throwing items.
According to police, some of the items thrown at officers included paint, ball bearings, and glass bottles. Police said one item struck a construction worker. No word on whether anyone was hurt.
More warnings were given to move out of the street and on to the sidewalk.
Police said “selective arrests” were made, then the crowd moved out of the street. However, police said the crowd moved back to the street when officers returned to the sidewalk.
After someone in the crowd lit a mattress on fire at around 12:14 a.m., police declared a riot and told everyone to disperse immediately.
Ten minutes later, officers began dispersing the crowd and arrests were made.
Police tweeted that some people were still not dispersing despite orders to leave and “opportunities to do so.”
The total number of people arrested has not yet been released by police.
It’s not known at this time if police used tear gas, but police warned they would if the crowd did not disperse.
Police did not say what the demonstrators were protesting, however protests have been ongoing since late May in Portland following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in Minneapolis.
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