Demonstrators gather for 83rd night of protests; riot declared as Multnomah Building damaged

UPDATED Wednesday, Aug. 19: Fire set inside Multnomah Building, riot declared in 83rd night of Portland protests

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Protesters gathered Tuesday for the 83rd consecutive night of demonstrations, marching for the first time to the Multnomah Building, the county seat of government.

A group gathered at 8 p.m. in Colonel Summers Park at Southeast 20th Avenue and Belmont Street for what organizers describe as a “direct action march.” About 9 p.m., the group, which appeared to total about 200, left the park and marched through Southeast Portland streets, eventually arriving at the Multnomah Building at Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and Grand Avenue.

The demonstration was peaceful for more than an hour, but demonstrators lit fires in dumpsters and broke windows. About an hour after arriving, small fires were seen inside the building beyond the broken windows.

About 10:30 p.m., police, who had not been seen previously, moved into the area and declared a riot, pushing protesters away. For the next hour and a half, demonstrators moved throughout the streets of inner Southeast Portland, being pushed north intermittently by groups of officers in riot gear.

Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury released a statement at midnight regarding the damage to the county building, saying a small group of protesters had set fire to the Office of Community Involvement.

“This is the heart of our County, where people in our community come to get married, get their passports, and celebrate their cultural traditions and diversity,” she said, saying the space is dedicated to community members “marginalized by the traditional political process.”

“The lobby where the first same-sex marriage in Oregon took place, and where millions of pieces of personal protective equipment are being distributed to help our community battle COVID-19, was damaged,” she said, asking the community to work together.

“I acknowledge that there is grave injustice in our world and there is a violent and tragic history of oppression in our County,” she said. “I am committed to transformational change.”

Demonstrators about midnight began marching back to Colonel Summers Park through neighborhood streets, chanting along the way for residents to wake up, come out of their homes and join the protest. Chants also included “Black lives matter” and “No Justice, No Peace,” among others.

The previous night’s protests remained comparatively quiet, with a group of about 200 marching from Kenton Park in North Portland to the Portland Police Association headquarters about half a mile away.

Police briefly appeared after a window at the police association was broken, but they remained for only about 10 minutes.

Letha Winston, the mother of a man, Patrick Kimmons, who was fatally shot by Portland police in 2018, spoke to the crowd shortly before midnight, urging them to march through residential neighborhoods instead of staying outside the police union building.

The protest on Sunday, however, took a more violent turn, as a group restrained and beat a driver who sped away from a crowd only to crash his truck nearby. Video shows the man was sitting on the ground when someone kicked him in the head, leaving him unconscious and bleeding in the street.

The victim, who police identified as Adam Haner, was hospitalized with serious injuries but is expected to live. Police have identified the suspect in the assault as Marquise Love, 25.

It was not immediately clear what spurred the confrontation. Several social media posts allege someone had been driving erratically downtown and tried to run over protesters several times, though those accounts could not be independently verified.

—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

Brooke Herbert, Jim Ryan and Fedor Zarkhin of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

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