Portland riots caused at least $2.3M in damage to federal buildings in city, state's US attorney says
Portland saw more than two months of near-nightly unrest
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Left-wing protests in Portland have caused roughly $2.3 million in damage to federal buildings since they broke out over the summer, according to local media.
Oregon’s largest city saw more than two months of near-nightly unrest centered on a federal courthouse downtown.
Activists even harassed the city’s liberal Mayor Ted Wheeler, who had opposed the Trump administration’s decision to send federal officers to help his beleaguered department amid the unrest. Critics accosted him when he was out to eat more than once. One altercation ended when the mayor pepper-sprayed a lawyer who confronted him for not wearing a face mask outside a restaurant.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LEFT-WING RIOTS RATTLE US CITIES EVEN AFTER PRESIDENT BIDEN'S INAUGURATION
Protesters rallied near the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in the city almost every night for weeks, feuding with police and counterprotesters and prompting the Trump administration to send federal officers to fortify the building after repeated vandalism.
A protester pour water on a tear gas canister outside the federal courthouse after a riot was declared in Portland, Ore., on July 5, 2020. (Photo by Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA) (Reuters)
The nightly standoffs with police involved graffiti, broken windows and firecrackers, as well as Molotov cocktails.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cleanup at the courthouse and four other government buildings has cost more than $2 million, U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy J. Williams told Oregon Live. And the total could continue to rise with repairs still underway.
The other damaged buildings were the Edith Green-Wendall Wyatt Federal Building, the Gus J. Solomon U.S. Courthouse, the Pioneer Courthouse and the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.
Although the riots were ostensibly against the Trump administration, police brutality and racial injustice, they continued even after President Biden took office on Jan. 20. Antifa marchers blasted the new president and new anti-Biden graffiti emerged.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rioters carrying stun guns, pepper ball guns and fireworks scuffled with police and again damaged the ICE building, police said. Photographs show marchers carrying signs with phrases including, "We don’t want Biden – we want revenge!" and "We are ungovernable."
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They also allegedly damaged the state’s Democratic Party headquarters.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Peaceful protests are a cornerstone of our democracy but smashing windows is not protesting and neither is looting," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last month. "Actions like these are totally unacceptable."