As power outages continue in Portland, Oregon, in the wake of multiple winter storms, local police raided a grocery store to prevent people from distributing heaps of recently discarded food to those in need.
Major storms have hit the region with ice and snow over the past week, leading to disruptions to hundreds of thousands of buildings and homes.
Employees at a Fred Meyer store that lost power on Tuesday filled two large garbage cans next to the building with packaged meat, spices and other perishables that could not be sold without refrigeration. Images posted on social media apparently show thousands of discarded items, including sliced cheeses, packaged sausages, yoghurt and dairy products, vegetables and large cuts of meat. People started gathering to save what they could.
Later that afternoon, however, police officers in Portland arrived on the scene. The department told HuffPost that around 4pm local time he received a call from an Fred Meyer employee about “a group of people arguing with employees and refusing to leave the property.” “No department officials were able to respond immediately,” the department said, and an employee called back about 15 minutes later because “they feel the situation is getting worse.”
‘The food was unfit for consumption or donation. Officials also tried to explain this to the group of people, “reads the department’s statement.
Local activist Morgan Mckniff told The Oregonian that Fred Meyer employees called police after trying to guard the garbage can themselves. About a dozen officers eventually showed up, Mckniff said.
Fred Meyer, a chain owned by Kroger, said employees “are concerned that residents in the area will eat the food and risk food-borne risks, and that they are involving local law enforcers out of an abundance of caution.”
“We apologize for the confusion,” the company said. a series of tweets. Fred Meyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.
Portland police said employees of the store called again later that evening, but that officers did not want to respond to the scene due to a lack of “imminent danger to life or threat of serious injury.”
No arrests or quotes were made, police said.
About 100,000 businesses and homes in Portland were left without power on Wednesday morning, joining the millions of people in Texas who are suffering from eclipses due to problems with the state’s power network after the severe winter weather.
Portland police have recently faced staffing issues and an increase in burglaries at local businesses.
The city’s police force has been criticized nationwide over the past summer for its heavy response to protests against police brutality and racial inequality, which has turned into protests against local and federal law enforcement.
In July, federal officials sent in by former President Donald Trump are seen grabbing activists from the street and sitting in unmarked vehicles, further fueling anger among residents after one protester was shot in the head by firearms and needs surgery wash. The protests began to subside after federal officers began leaving downtown later in the summer.
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