Photo: KATU
Demonstrators in North Portland were throwing baseball sized rocks and commercial grade fireworks at police who used CS gas to break up the crowd.
During the evening hours of June 30, 2020, demonstrators once again took to the streets of Portland. A couple hundred demonstrators began by gathering at Peninsula Park around 6 p.m. At approximately 8:30 p.m., the demonstrators began marching in a northwesterly direction towards the Portland Police Association's office in North Portland.
Around 9 p.m., demonstrators began blocking the road on North Lombard Street at North Campbell Avenue. While in the street, demonstrators began throwing projectiles at officers who were standing outside of the Portland Police Association office. These projectiles included rocks and water bottles. The demonstrators also shined green lasers in the officer's eyes.
At approximately 9:08 p.m., the sound truck made an admonishment stating an unlawful assembly had been declared and that the demonstrators needed to disperse to the east. The demonstrators were told if they did not obey the lawful order and begin to disperse, they could be subject to arrest or use of force to include crowd control munitions. Despite the admonishment, demonstrators continued to block traffic on North Lombard Street and throw projectiles at officers who were in front of the Portland Police Association office.
At approximately 9:19 p.m., officers began dispersing the crowd in an effort to move them from the immediate area. While performing this lawful action, demonstrators continued to throw water bottles, baseball sized rocks, and full cans. While officers cleared the area, some crowd control munitions were used. Once demonstrators were to North Fenwick Avenue and North Lombard Street, they began to move dumpsters and plastic trash bins to the street. The demonstrators attempted to set fire to the dumpsters and trash bins. During this time, demonstrators deployed orange smoke towards officers.
At 10 p.m., the sound truck continued to warn demonstrators to disperse to the east, however, they continued to throw full cans, baseball sized rocks, and water bottles at officers. The large baseball sized rocks hit several officers which required medical attention. At 10:12 p.m., demonstrators began lighting commercial grade fireworks and throwing them towards officers. At this time, a riot was declared and the demonstrators were admonished by the sound truck to leave the area immediately. Because demonstrators were throwing commercial grade fireworks towards officers, to protect the life and safety of police personnel, CS gas was used to disperse the crowd.
Over the next hour, officers continued to disperse the crowd to the east. During this time, several arrests were made. While performing these arrests, demonstrators continued to throw projectiles at officers, vandalize property, and set dumpster fires on North Lombard Street. A vehicle supplying demonstrators with supplies was also stopped during this time.
Around 12 a.m., the remaining demonstrators began marching southbound Northeast MLK Boulevard from Northeast Lombard Street towards North Precinct. Nearly 85 demonstrators took several lanes of traffic on Northeast MLK Boulevard and were accompanied by several vehicles. As the demonstrators arrived at North Precinct, the sound truck admonished the crowd, informing them an unlawful assembly had been declared, and they needed to leave the area to the north and west.
At 12:46 a.m., demonstrators set a large fire in a dumpster they had pushed in to Northeast Killingsworth Street near the north side of North Precinct. Officers began to disperse the crowd and while doing so, demonstrators continued to throw projectiles at officers. Most demonstrators left the area by 1:15 a.m.
Police made several arrests.
Source: Portland Police Bureau