Photo: Portland Police
Demonstrators protested outside of the North Portland Police precinct Sunday evening setting a fire that due to the extreme fire conditions could have through the neighborhood.
Portland Police report a mattress was set on fire, then a second mattress was added along with yard debris which sent sparks into the air.
Under the extremely dry conditions and high fire danger, Portland Police cleared a path among the crowd to bring the Portland Fire Department in to put out the fire.
The crowd remained outside of the North Precinct for several hours block traffic in streets.
While the crowd blocked the street, drivers in two separate cars trying to proceed were caught by surprise and were stuck in the middle of the crowd. This caused some confrontations, but no known injuries.
After an hour, officers disengaged after multiple times advising the crowd not to follow officers. Several did follow officers into the closure area and arrests were made.
By about 1:00 a.m., the majority of the demonstration had left.
Officers discovered one arrestee was in possession of a glass jar filled with flammable liquid. Another had a bottle containing an accelerant and a slugging weapon known as a slung shot. Still another had a stun gun and a baton. Two arrestees had ballistic vests, including one, marked with the word "press," with rifle plates.
15 people were arrested. Several of the people were from outside of Oregon.