A gathering of people in downtown Portland on New Year’s Eve quickly erupted into violence, with people tossing Molotov cocktail-style firebombs and other projectiles at law enforcement officers, setting off commercial grade fireworks and setting multiple fires, police said.
People began to gather near the federal courthouse and Portland Justice Center, the location or destination for most anti-police violence demonstrations throughout 2020, at approximately 7:45 p.m., according to a news release from the Portland Police Bureau
The violence ultimately prompted Portland police to declare a riot before midnight, according to a Portland police statement on twitter. Police said few people in the crowd complied with orders to leave the area and some continued to throw “dangerous objects” at officers. Law enforcement did not use tear gas but did deploy “inert smoke” and some impact munitions, according to the Portland Police Bureau.
Most people had left by 2 a.m. Police said they arrested an unspecified number of people related to the event.
People in the crowd launched the commercial grade aerial fireworks at the U.S. District Courthouse and Justice Center and some tried unsuccessfully to break into the Justice Center, police said.
“Portland police officers citywide had to be pulled from answering emergency calls to respond,” according to the police news release.
Multnomah County sheriff’s deputies and Federal Protective Services officers also responded.
People in the crowd threw projectiles such as bricks, large rocks and frozen water bottles at law enforcement officers, according to the police.
The crowd also threw “paint balloons that may have been laced with a caustic substance as it caused burning to the skin,” Portland police said.
Vandals did significant damage to other buildings downtown, as a reporter with the Portland Tribune captured in photos posted on Twitter.
Employee of Standard Insurance says 41 windows on Portland office tower were broken, each costing $5,000 each:
— Zane Sparling (@PDXzane) January 1, 2021
“Starbucks is leaving. They’re gone. They’re not gonna come back after this... we took our fences down thinking everything was quiet. Bad move.” pic.twitter.com/04UZ7cFbBG
It was the second night in a row of people damaging downtown businesses and government buildings. A small group of people also vandalized government buildings and at least one nonprofit in the city’s downtown core on Dec. 30, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
The Dec. 30 vandalism once again targeted The Oregon Historical Society, which was also vandalized during violent protests in October when people broke in and stole a famous Afro-American Heritage Bicentennial Quilt.
— Hillary Borrud