Anti-government protesters smashed windows at Oregon’s Democratic Party headquarters in Portland after meeting for an inauguration day.
A group of about 150 people marched to the Democratic Party headquarters on Wednesday afternoon as part of one of the four protests that took place in the city.
Although the Portland Police Department said that two of the protests remained “largely peaceful”, the other two “resulted in property damage and arrests”. The police reported that some of the protesters broke windows and vandalized the Democratic headquarters building, prompting police to make “selective arrests”.
Portland Police Sergeant Kevin Allen said in a recorded video that eight individuals were arrested, on charges that included intentional crime, possession of a destructive device and riots.
The police recovered several weapons during the protest, including Molotov cocktails, knives, batons, chemical spray and a crowbar.
– Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) January 21, 2021
The crowd was all dressed in black, with various helmets and body armor, while the policemen wore riot gear, the Los Angeles Times reported. The newspaper described the political opinions of the protesters as “difficult to define”, noting that they called themselves anarchists and had a banner that said: “We are ungovernable”.
During the march, the anarchists held up a banner that read “We don’t want Biden – we want revenge”, referring to President Biden, who had taken an oath hours earlier, as well as police killings of citizens. They also he shouted “Black lives are important,” although the group’s local leaders said they did not want to be associated with the demonstrations.
200 left-wing protesters are on the streets of Portland now, with anti-Biden and anti-police messages.
“We are ungovernable,” says one of the signs. pic.twitter.com/WLTFpJrS03
– Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) January 20, 2021
Protesters surrounded a man with umbrellas to prevent him from being recognized while he painted the building with anti-Biden slogans and drew the anarchist symbol on windows and walls, according to the newspaper.
Protesters also dropped trash containers and set one on fire, the New York Times reported.
A group of 150 people also went down to the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices at 9 pm, with police saying that some had pepper guns, Tasers-like electronic control weapons, shields and stones, which were thrown at building.
Portland police said the federal police worked to disperse this crowd. ICE did not immediately return a request for comment.
The New York Times reported that federal officials used tear gas and pepper balls to control the crowd.
“As always, we thank those who made their voices heard without resorting to criminal activities. We respect the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, ”said Allen in a video statement. “From now on, we will monitor any future events in which we have reason to think that there will be criminal activity, without taking into account the political perspective of those present.”
The Oregon Democratic Party said in a statement that it was “frustrated and disappointed” at the damage to its headquarters.
“We are grateful that none of our employees were in the building at the moment,” said the party. “This is not the first time that our building has been vandalized during the past year – none of the previous incidents prevented us from our important work of electing Democrats in all the votes, and this will be no different. “
A protest of about 150 people also broke out in Seattle, with some protesters breaking windows and painting anarchist symbols, including in a federal court, according to The New York Times. The crowd sang anti-Trump and anti-Biden slogans, and a pamphlet distributed during the protests said: “Democratic administration is not a victory for the oppressed.”
Portland endured more than 100 consecutive nights of protests after George Floyd’s death by police in Minneapolis in May. Demonstrations have become less frequent in recent weeks.