Work crews erected a security fence and concrete partitions outside the federal court in downtown Portland on Sunday, three days after it was removed.
The United States Department of Justice decided that the fence was removed prematurely after people continued to smash the windows and spray paint graffiti on the courthouse building the past few nights.
Officials who oversaw the return of the fence said it was 15 miles from Portland, in a truck bound for Washington, DC, when the truck was driven back to Portland.
Eight court windows were broken and graffiti was scrawled on the building on Saturday night, after other windows were broken on Thursday night, according to federal officials.
Among the graffiti left in front of the court, there was a message that read in red: “NAZI’S WORK HERE.”
“As a first-generation American whose parents lived through the horrors of World War II, in England and Norway, you cannot say anything more offensive than to claim that the people who work inside that building, which I know and love, are Nazis. ”, Said the United States acting attorney, Scott Asphaug, on Sunday.
“This building represents justice,” he said. “This is where people come for their civil rights to be heard.”
The team, lawyers and judges continued to conduct court operations during last year’s mass protests and will continue to do so without being intimidated, Asphaug said. Asphaug said he supports people’s rights to protest and make their voices heard, but he does not support turbulent behavior and damage to the court.
“The people who work in that building are much stronger than graffiti and broken windows,” he said, “and will continue to do the important work they do.”
The Federal Protection Service, working with the city of Portland and federal agencies, on Thursday made the decision to remove the protective fence around the federal court “in collaboration with local Portland leaders as part of a broader effort. to help the city get back to normal, ”said Robert Sperling, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on Friday.
The Federal Protection Service “will continue to fulfill its mandate to ensure the safety and security of federal employees and facilities, while maintaining our commitment to work with the city of Portland and the community as part of a collective effort to restore the center of the city, “Sperling said via email.
Later on Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice and the US Marshals Service took over the fence’s jurisdiction, and authorities said it would be restored on Sunday or Monday.
Oregon District Chief Judge Marco A. Hernandez declined to comment on the damage to the court on Sunday.
The federal court became the focal point of the mass social justice demonstrations that began after the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after being arrested under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer now on trial for his death.
Construction workers on Thursday morning removed concrete partitions from the highway and fences on the west side of the federal court’s public entrance. In the early afternoon, 20 to 30 protesters, mostly dressed in black, vandalized the front entrance, breaking a large window, according to the Federal Protection Service.
As a result, work crews put plywood and planks back in place to protect the building’s windows and facade, foreseeing a second demonstration that night. At around 9:30 pm on Thursday, protesters returned to the courthouse and several removed plywood from the west entrance to the courthouse, started a fire, smashed windows and graffiti outside, according to Micah Coring, a Protection Service agent Federal.
US Marshals Service and Federal Protective Service officials fired tear gas, flash-bangs and smoke grenades to push the Thursday night crowd away from the court in scenes reminiscent of last summer’s violent nighttime clashes outside and around of the court building.
Thursday’s demonstration apparently started as a protest against the expansion of a pipeline, known as the Line 3 Enbridge Energy pipeline, which would bring oil from oil sands from the Canadian province of Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. Protesters say the line would pass along delicate marshes and the territory of the Native American tribal lands treaty of the Anishinaabe peoples.
On Saturday night, eight more windows of the court were broken, federal officials said. No federal official left the court on Saturday night.
By the beginning of February, the cost of cleaning up the vandalism and repairing the court had reached $ 1.6 million.
The account rises to a total of about $ 2.3 million if we add four other federal properties, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. In addition to the court, the Edith Green-Wendall Wyatt Federal Building, the Gus J. Solomon US Courthouse, the Pioneer Courthouse and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building were also damaged and underwent repairs.
– Maxine Bernstein
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