Portland police arrested a crowd of more than 100 protesters during a demonstration on Friday night, stopping a march minutes after it started.
The mass detention was an apparent use of boilermaking, a police tactic of encircling a crowd and restraining people within a perimeter. The police told the crowd that they were detaining everyone inside the border for the “investigation of a crime”, but did not specify the nature of the alleged crime.
Protesters initially met in the Pearl district at around 8:30 pm and started marching about half an hour later. Police threatened to arrest the protesters minutes after the march began, saying that those walking on the street were blocking traffic and would be subject to arrest, summons or crowd control ammunition if they did not move.
The police announced around 9:20 pm that they were setting up a perimeter around the group and arresting everyone. The police said the detention was “temporary” and that they would remove the protesters “one at a time”.
Meanwhile, a crowd gathered outside the perimeter, shouting “let them go” and slogans condemning the police.
In one incident, around 10 pm, cameraman CarissaDez captured a live broadcast from Portland police spraying pepper on two people outside the perimeter who were confronting the police about the arrests.
Around 10:15 pm, the police began to release legal observers and members of the press one by one. Lawyers also posted reminders on social media about protesters’ rights and resources.
Several live broadcasters and independent journalists said they were released, the police made them give their name and date of birth, wrote the information on a piece of tape and gave it to each person to put on their chest. The police then photographed each person when they were leaving, demanding that they remove their masks.
At around 11:10 pm, the police appeared to arrest at least one person. It was not clear why the person was arrested.
According to people posting on the scene’s social media, around 11:30 pm, a group of four policemen grabbed and sprayed pepper spray on a protester who was carrying a speaker and took out the speakers. It was not clear why they sprayed the person with pepper.
As of midnight, there were still dozens of protesters inside the perimeter.
Independent journalist Laura Jedeed reported that a person on the sidewalk was arrested just before midnight.
Videographers who documented the protest said the police had followed the protesters since the beginning of the march, which lasted less than 15 minutes.
Adam Costello, a live broadcast cameraman, said two windows were broken during the early stages of the protest. Costello suspected that this may have led the police to set up the perimeter.
A police spokesman declined to describe the nature of the alleged crime under investigation.
The Portland protesters’ kettling most recently attracted attention in January, after two federal judges rejected or recommended the filing of civil suits, including one filed by the Oregon ACLU, which contested the police practice.
The cases, which originated from the June 2017 demonstrations in downtown Portland, were dismissed despite strong objection from community members to the tactic – and a critical report from the Portland police review office.
Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as a police commissioner, said in January that he did not like the way the police used the tactic during his tenure, but did not say that the practice should be banned.
“If the casserole is used as a technique, it must be well planned and well trained,” he told The Oregonian / OregonLive.
“What I think we should do is have an open conversation with all of our law enforcement partners and legislative leaders about what tools are appropriate and how to use them in the best way,” he said. “I’m not saying that the boiler should be discarded, but I think that we should have a conversation about how we should use it as a tool and use it properly, if we decide to use it.”
The mass arrests marked the second consecutive night that the police responded vigorously to the demonstrators in Portland.
On Thursday night, federal officials implanted tear gas in a group of a few dozen protesters who met at the U.S. Court of Justice in Hatfield. Some protesters continued their efforts earlier in the day when they protested an oil pipeline
The police detained at least one person during the protest.
Juniper Simonis, an environmental biologist who studies the effects of chemical agents on protesters, went to the protest site on Friday morning and reported that they found used HC gas cans.
HC gas is a toxic and potentially deadly smoke grenade that Portland police used more than two dozen times during the summer, while trying to disperse protesters.
“HC” means hexachlorothane, a common ingredient in smoke devices that the Environmental Protection Agency has classified as a probable carcinogen.
This report will be updated.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; [email protected]; @JRamakrishnanOR
Maxine Bernstein and Kale Williams of The Oregonian / OregonLive contributed to this report.