(Above image free from pixabay.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) | Protesters in Portland broke out the windows of a county government building, sprayed lighter fluid inside and set a fire in demonstration that started at night Aug. 18 and ended in the morning of Aug. 19 with clashes with police, officials said.
The fire at the Multnomah Building damaged the county government’s office of community involvement, where Oregon’s first same-sex marriage took place and where protective gear has been distributed to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, said Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury.
“This is the heart of our County, where people in our community come to get married, get their passports, and celebrate their cultural traditions and diversity,” she said in a statement.
Demonstrations that often turn violent have gripped Oregon’s biggest city for more than two months following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
On Aug. 16, protesters punched and kicked a man to the ground after he crashed his truck onto the sidewalk near otherwise peaceful demonstrations.
Portland police said they received a report around 10:30 p.m. of protesters chasing a truck a few blocks from the downtown federal courthouse. The driver, later identified as Adam Haner, crashed and was then assaulted, authorities said.
Video posted online of the incident showed Haner sitting in the street next to the truck. A crowd gathered around him and repeatedly punched and kicked him in the head until he was bloody. It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the crash or the confrontation.
Witnesses told police Haner had been helping a transgender female who had an item of hers stolen, and he was dragged out of the car and beat by nine or 10 people. When police arrived Haner was unconscious.
Portland police said their response to the assault was “complicated by a hostile group.”
Authorities are trying to track down the suspect, Marquise Love, 25, police said in a statement. Haner has been released from a hospital with broken ribs, bruising and possibly long-term vision damage, according to an interview Haner gave to Portland’s ABC affiliate KATU News 2.
A social media account apparently connected to Love has been disabled and efforts to locate him for comment were not immediately successful.
In another area, Letha Winston, whose son Patrick Kimmons, 27, was fatally shot by Portland police in 2018 led a group of marchers downtown. The demonstrators ended outside the federal courthouse where people left flowers and candles beside a photo of Kimmons.
