The never-ending story: Rioting and arson in Portland

There was a fatal police shooting at a park in Portland Friday morning. It started when a call was placed to police reporting a white man pointing a gun in the park. Police arrived and, according to a witness who filmed the encounter, the man became irate. He was shirtless and didn’t appear to be armed at that point, though the witness said he’d seen him with a gun earlier. Police attempted to issue orders and locate then gun but when the man bent down to pick something off the ground, one of the officers shot him. The man died at the scene. As many as 250 protesters showed up at the park Friday morning while police created a line of officers to keep people out of the scene.

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Friday evening there were two protests announced. An Antifa account called for an occupation of the park where the shooting happened and made clear BLM was not welcome:

Both the Antifa and the BLM march blocked traffic but the Antifa march was eventually declared a riot, the third one in five days.

A group of protesters in downtown Portland lit fires, smashed the windows of businesses, a church and the Oregon Historical Society, and caused other various damage during a destructive demonstration Friday night and early Saturday.

Someone also fired several gunshots from a car traveling a block away from the protest crowd early Saturday. No one was hurt.

Police declared the demonstration a riot late Friday, marking the third time in five days the bureau had made such an announcement.

Of course the written word doesn’t fully communicate the scale of the damage. There was lots of vandalism and broken windows.

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For some reason, Antifa once again targeted the Oregon Historical Society. What in the world does “No more history” mean? They also targeted a church:

Nordstrom and Nike were targeted:

They painted “Kill Cops” on this building.

Police published additional photos of the damage done last night:

Rioters also set a significant fire at a downtown mall connected to the Apple Store:

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Fire crews eventually arrived to put it out.

The Oregonian spoke to an arson investigator this morning. He estimated the damage at this one location was $200,000.

But Portland wasn’t alone last night. There were similar protests around the country. In Chicago:

In Oakland:

In New York:

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And Washington, DC:

So last night Portland was not a special case. People around the country are ready to riot over the deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo and we’re still waiting on the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial.

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