Police declare unlawful assembly amid downtown Portland protest held after Derek Chauvin conviction

Portland police on Tuesday declared an unlawful assembly and arrested at least two people amid a demonstration held after jurors convicted former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd.

Floyd’s death in May ignited nearly a year of protests, rioting and political unrest in Portland, and it thrust the issues of police violence and systemic racism into the middle of a tense national conversation.

A crowd initially gathered near the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse and Multnomah County Justice Center on Tuesday evening, and some began spray-painting the latter building about 9 p.m.

A group of roughly 60 began marching about 9:45 p.m., while about 25 other people remained near the courthouse and Justice Center.

Some demonstrators broke a number of downtown windows, according to police, who declared an unlawful assembly at roughly 10 p.m.

About that time, a police sergeant and protester engaged in a heated confrontation. Another officer arrived on a bicycle, pushing a different nearby protester. That protester then punched the sergeant, and police piled on the person who threw the punch in flurry of physical confrontation captured on video by an Oregonian/OregonLive journalist.

A different video of the flurry shows an officer throwing repeated punches.

The sergeant who was punched did not require medical treatment or hospitalization, according to a police spokesperson. In a statement Wednesday, Acting Police Chief Chris Davis called the punch “reprehensible.”

“We ask for those who want to demonstrate to do so peacefully--breaking windows, lighting fires and assaulting others does not further any racial justice movement,” Davis said.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT AND LANGUAGE

Police said officers arrested two people during the protest and that they used pepper spray against one of them.

Randy Gray, 36, is accused of punching the sergeant. He has been charged with assaulting a peace officer, harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in a statement.

Kenneth Harold, 24, was also arrested on suspicion of criminal mischief, police said, and was in possession of a glass-breaking tool and cans of spray paint when he was taken into custody.

Harold is suspected of damaging windows at a Starbucks shop on Southwest Morrison Street, Schmidt said. The windows Harold is suspected of breaking will cost more than $1,000 to repair, according to court documents.

Tuesday’s events came after Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a 24-hour state of emergency, allowing him to impose a curfew, close city streets and take other extraordinary measures should widespread political unrest erupt.

The mayor also said the city would have the state police and National Guard on standby, while Portland police received assistance from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies in the metro area.

Well before the march, Lisa Dooney, 69, was among those who gathered near the Justice Center and federal courthouse.

Dooney — who has been protesting since the late 1960s, when she first attended a Portland protest against the Vietnam War — said she came by for a little while to “pay homage to what happened today.”

Still, she said, far more must be done.

”True justice would be George Floyd still living,” she said.

Remington Smith, 27, said the verdict was justified and hopes pressure will shift to demanding reparations and justice for other people killed by police, including Breonna Taylor.

”I would like to be able to see that happen,” Smith said.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

503-294-7674; fzarkhin@oregonian.com

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