Protests for August 7

Posted on by audrey

Summary

On Friday night, about 200 protesters marched from Laurelhurst Park to the East Multnomah County Sheriffs Office / SE Precinct. They carried new shields with a Black Lives Matter fist stenciled on the front. Upon arriving, the LRAD made announcements about trespassing on the property. As protesters faced the building and chanted, at 9:46 PM the police declared the protest to be an illegal assembly. After this, a press photographer in front of the line of shields was arrested.

The police began making announcements on the LRAD and Twitter about protesters removing materials from a retaining wall and throwing them at the police. Multiple reporters verified that this claim was false. The night progressed uneventfully, aside from two arrests of people who walked toward the building and a burst of throwing eggs and apples at the cops around 12:15 AM. Just before 1 AM someone lit off a firework, and riot cops came out and pushed the protest into the surrounding neighborhood, using flash bang grenades and impact munitions. Groups of protesters reformed and the cops held a line at different intersections before retreating, with most protesters dispersing by 2:30 AM.

Upon returning to Laurelhurst Park, a group of protesters had explosive devices thrown at them, a set of small pipe bombs. No one was injured and the people who threw them have not yet been identified.

Scheduled Events

Timeline

Tonight protesters will be marching from Laurelhurst Park, to an undisclosed location (but it’s probably the Penumbra Kelly Building, aka the East Multnomah County Sheriffs Office (EMSCO) and SE Portland Precinct, where protests have happened several times in recent weeks).

There are many shields on hand for tonight’s action:

While we’re waiting for things to start, here’s a cool replacement elk statue someone has installed downtown:

The SE march is starting off:

The LRAD is already warmed up:

9:46 PM and they’re already calling it an illegal assembly:

An arrest:

A look at the overall scene here on East Burnside:

Clergy are here:

Snack van is here:

Attempting to make sense of the announcements:

With so many press out there, you figure something like this wouldn’t go unnoticed:

As the police continue to announce ridiculous things about objects being thrown and their risk of injury, reporters are checking the scene again:

A test?

A second arrest:

Another arrest:

Calm-ish:

LRAD picks back up:

So then people throw food products:

Then that settles down and people resume what they were doing before:

Someone lights a firework:

The police make a push at about 1 AM, after three hours of LRAD announcements:

CW: violent arrest

On dispersing, some protesters returned to Laurelhurst Park where they encountered what appear to be pipe bombs:

There are videos of a person who may have thrown the bombs, but no other information is available right now.

Media

Present

Articles

Gizmodo

U.S. Agencies Sued for Records of Unmarked Agents Who Rounded Up Portland Protesters

OPB

The Oregonian

Portland Mercury

Hall Monitor: Fair Weather Wheeler

Rolling Stone

Who Won the Battle of Portland?

Willamette Week

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty Disputes Mayor’s Assertion That Disbanding the Gun Violence Reduction Team Caused a Spike in Shootings

Police

Agencies present

  • Portland Police Bureau

Munitions used

  • Smoke
  • Impact munitions
  • Pepper spray
  • Flash bangs

Number of arrests

PPB: 24

Charges

  • Interfering with a Police Officer
  • Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree
  • Resist Arrest
  • Assaulting a Public Safety Officer 
  • Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree 
  • Riot
  • Unlawful Directing of Light from a Laser Pointer
  • Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle 
  • Assault in the Second Degree