Police: Crowd gathers outside law enforcement building in Portland, no arrests made
Click here for updates on this story
PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — A Black Lives Matter demonstration took place for several hours Tuesday night on Portland’s east side.
The Portland Police Bureau reported that a group of people gathered around 8 p.m. at Laurelhurst Park, located in the 3600 block of Southeast Oak Street.
After about an hour, the group grew to a couple hundred people. Then, around 9:30 p.m., the crowd started to march the Penumbra Kelly Building, located at 4735 East Burnside Street. The building is owned by the City of Portland and houses law enforcement offices.
As the crowd marched, police said “support vehicles escorted them, helping to block all other vehicular traffic.”
After marching for ten minutes from the park, the group arrived at the Kelly Building. There, police said that officers told the crowd to remain off the building’s property or be subject to arrest for trespassing.
A few minutes after the crowd first arrived, police said a passenger traveling in the back of a pick-up truck associated with the group fell out of the truck at East Burnside Street and Southeast 47th Avenue. PPB said an officer and a Portland Fire medic entered the crowd to assess the victim who was then transported by ambulance to an area hospital. The extent of their injuries was not reported.
Over the next few hours, police said the group blocked traffic on East Burnside Street, just south of the Kelly Building. Around 12:40 a.m., a couple members of the group entered upon the Kelly Building property, according to police. PPB officers repeated their announcement to the group to remain off the property and those who had entered the property followed the instruction.
By 1:30 a.m., police said the majority of the crowd had left the area.
PPB reported that no arrests were made, and no crowd control munitions nor tear gas was used during the mass gathering.
Groups of various sizes, from hundreds to thousands, have gathered in Portland nightly since late May to protest racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The gathering came hours after the Multnomah County district attorney announced that his office will no longer prosecute protesters who have been charged with the following crimes: disorderly conduct, interfering with a peace or police officer, escape in the third degree, harassment or riot.
FOX 12 spoke with a protester who was arrested Monday and will not be charged under the new policy.
Police said an additional group gathered Tuesday night and blocked traffic for several hours on Southwest 3rd Avenue at Southwest Main Street in downtown. That event was peaceful, and PPB said officers did not interact with the crowd.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
