A riot in the neighborhood of Kenton in northern Portland on Monday, Sept. 28, has led to one officer being sent to the hospital, several others being doused in chemicals and 24 Antifa agitators being arrested by the Portland Police Bureau (PPB). The rioters organized the demonstration to call for the abolition of prisons and the police.
The rioters started forming up and organizing at around 8:45 p.m. in Kenton Park. They planned to march out at 9:15 p.m. to find police officers to provoke. However, their plans were thwarted when police observers called in backup after seeing that the group was planning an “unpermitted march.”
They were also concerned with the fact that many in the mob were using shields. The PPB believes that they were using shields in order “to protect those intent on committing crimes such as throwing objects at police.”
Rioters disobey police officers and attack them with rocks, water bottles and chemicals
Because of the perceived threat to Portland residents and their property, PPB officers moved in on the crowd before they could fully assemble in order to confiscate their shields. While they were in the process of doing this, many of the rioters interfered. Some threw objects at the officers such as water bottles, and at least 2 people were arrested during this initial altercation.
After the incident, police told the demonstrators that they could remain in the park and protest as much as they wanted. However, they did not have a permit to march and go wherever they wanted. If they went onto the street, they would be subject to arrest, citation or being dispersed with the help of crowd control munitions like pepper spray and impact weapons.
The PPB officers disengaged from the park, despite the fact that the rioters continued to hurl objects at them. The mob, in an act of defiance, moved along the sidewalks (which was technically legal) in order to reach the office building of the Portland Police Association, the main police union that represents rank-and-file PPB officers.
The bureau stated that the union building has been the focus of many “violent and destructive” demonstrations.
“Individuals operating within large scale demonstrations have burglarized the building, set arson fires, cut power to the building, broke windows and caused other destruction,” said the PPB in their statement. “Several of those incidents devolved into riots where officers were forced to deploy tear gas and other munitions to move the violent and destructive crowd away.”
As the rioters approached, the officers told the mob that the sidewalk in front of the union building was closed. Several demonstrators moved into the street, which was still off-limits for them. Fortunately, the PPB had surrounded the union building to prevent any of the rioters from attacking it.
The police moved in to arrest the demonstrators that were in the streets. The rioters responded violently. They tried intervening in the arrests by attacking the officers. Many officers had rocks and water bottles thrown at them. One rioter punched a police sergeant in the face, and five other police officers were doused in some kind of harmful chemical. Videos from the altercation also showed one rioter launching a firework that hit an officer in the head.
The police sergeant had to be sent to the hospital. No word has been released concerning the injuries sustained by the officers that were sprayed with chemicals.
Several more arrests were made during this scuffle. Officers declared an unlawful assembly minutes later and ordered the rioters to leave. Few complied until the PPB began marching towards the crowd in a police line.
By around 1:30 a.m., the riot was over, and 24 people were arrested. A majority of the arrested rioters were charged with interfering with a peace officer and disorderly conduct. One individual was charged with harassment, and another with two counts of escape in the third degree. Two individuals were criminally cited with interfering with a police officer, and one 17-year-old girl was referred to a juvenile court with charges of interfering with a peace officer and disorderly conduct in the second degree.
Several of the people that were arrested were posing as press officers. They wore heavy body armor with rifle plating and possessed weapons such as pepper spray and knives while carrying forged press passes.
During the night, Portland police also arrested an Antifa rioter posing as an emergency driver. The man, Jason Dye, 40, was stopped in his silver sedan – which was marked on the side with a red cross to signal that the vehicle can be used as medical transport – because the police saw that he was driving dangerously. Inside the car, officers found a loaded handgun. Dye was cited for failing to properly use a safety belt, driving uninsured and failing to use a turn signal.
Portland police believe violence will last until after the inauguration
After the rioters dispersed, several residents observing the commotion asked nearby police officers how they think the engineered civil unrest will end. The officers responded by saying that Portland’s residents need to start working together with emergency officers and public officials. (Related: Portland officials seem to actually want their city to burn down.)
“If [the rioters] were not out here, we wouldn’t be out here,” said one of the officers. “If people liked our Trump government a lot more, we probably wouldn’t have this issue in the first place. But there’s a lot of contention with the federal government.”
“We know it’s going to run all the way until at least the election,” said another officer. “This could run all the way to the inauguration.”
The riot on Monday marked four months of nearly nonstop demonstrations in Portland against supposed police violence and systemic and institutional racism.
Learn more about the latest demonstrations and criminal actions conducted in Portland by Antifa and Black Lives matter agitators by reading the articles at Rioting.news.
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