Businesses in Portland and a church picked up the pieces Saturday morning amid unrest in the city after a number of police shootings nationwide.
Groups of about 100 people roamed the streets of Portland protesting or trying to cause damage on Friday night, prompting police to declare a riot.
The chaos was the third night in five days that police declared a riot in the city following police shootings nationwide, including those killing the lives of Adam Toledo (13) in Chicago and Daunte Wright (20) in Brooklyn Center claimed. Minnesota.
Portland police and firefighters are responding to a structural fire ordered by protesters following the police shooting of a homeless man on April 17, 2021 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
Police also shot dead a man in Lents Park, southeast of Portland, on Friday morning. The victim, a white man in his thirties who was not identified, died at the scene.
By Saturday morning, local residents had been evacuated to deal with the aftermath: At First Christ Church in Southwest Park Avenue, congregation members put up plywood to cover the damaged windows, KGW 8 reported.
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“Sometimes when windows are broken during a riot, it is not a specific statement by one individual,” Chief Preacher Cynthia McBride said as she sought to uphold the church’s message of love and unity. “There are more people who are apparently trapped in the anxiety of the moment.”
The church has been damaged once before in the past year. A police report notes that the church is a place known for their generosity in providing more than a thousand meals to homeless people every week. ‘
Protesters watch as the structure burns, which erupted following a police shooting at a homeless man on April 17, 2021 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
McBride expressed her frustration that the church had to pay for the cost of repairs after she had already struggled financially due to the pandemic – money that could otherwise be used to fulfill the church’s mission.
The Oregon Historical Society felt the same burden, with windows also broken for the second time this year.
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“It’s depressing on so many levels,” said museum director Kerry Tymchuk. “We invested in impenetrable windows so they could not climb in like last time and throw the torches to the building or steal things they did last time.”
Repairing the windows costs thousands of dollars.
A police report said a group of “an estimated several hundred people” began marching after 9:30 p.m., smashing windows of several businesses, including Nordstrom, Verizon, Nike and more.
The protests resumed Saturday night, this time with protesters putting pressure on police by gathering outside the eastern district.
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Protesters moved trucks into the streets before police finally declared an illegal rally and tried to break up the protest, KATU reported.
Police gave the group the chance to disperse on their own and warned that individuals who were left behind could face ammunition, arrest or quoting crowds.
Andy Ngô of The Post Millennial shared protected tweets from an individual – allegedly part of an Antifa group – who urged fellow protesters to hide their ‘block’, which could serve as evidence of their activity.
“Antifa tells their comrades to throw away evidence if they were involved in the arson last night in downtown Portland,” Ngô tweeted. “Fires were started near propane tanks.”
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‘Bloc’ refers to the equipment – called a black block – that is used to conceal a person’s identity, including ski masks, scarves, sunglasses, helmets, and other face protection items.
The initial tweet warned protesters that “it’s better to spend $ 50 on new block than jail time.”