Police in Portland, Oregon, declared a riot Saturday night after officers observed protesters damaging multiple businesses, the Portland Police Bureau said in a news release.
About 150 people gathered and began marching from Irving Park in north Portland and headed south on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd around 7:15 p.m. PT, the release said.
According to police, members of the group threw objects at police and pepper sprayed members of the community. Police say they also shattered windows at several businesses, including two phone stores, a coffee shop, a computer store, a community bank, a hotel, a restaurant, a financial office and two realty offices.
Portland Police said windows were broken at several businesses on October 31, 2020.
Aerial video shot by CNN affiliate KPTV showed shattered windows in a computer retail store on NE Multnomah St, a coffee shop and at least one other business.
Police declared a riot after people damaged businesses in the city.
After declaring the riot, police ordered everyone to leave the area and threatened arrest, citation, or the use of crowd control agents if the crowd did not disperse immediately. Around 8:30 p.m. PT, police rescinded the riot declaration after most of the rioters left, the release said.
No one was arrested, but the Portland Police Bureau said they are investigating the vandalism and future arrests were possible.
Portland has been the site of regular protests against police brutality and racial injustice since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd in May.
The demonstrations found renewed intensity after Kenosha, Wisconsin, police shot Jacob Blake in August and again after the announcement in September that only one of six Louisville, Kentucky, police officers would be charged in connection to Breonna Taylor’s fatal shooting, but not for the killing itself.
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