AMERICA— On August 7, the Portland Police reported two large gatherings taking place in Portland.
The first gathering blocked traffic for several hours on Southwest 3rd Avenue at Southwest Main Street, but was reported to be peaceful. No interactions with the police took place.
At 9:45 p.m., a second group gathered near the Penumbra Kelly Building located on 4735 East Burnside Street. Officers told the crowd that they would be arrested for trespassing if they remained on the Kelly Building’s property.
After multiple announcements with the same message were made, people who remained on the property were arrested.
Some crowd members reacted violently to the arrests taking place. People began throwing rocks at officers. At 10:05 p.m., some people took concrete off the walls of buildings nearby, broke it into smaller pieces, and threw it at officers. Some individuals also shined lasers into the eyes of officers.
By 12:10 a.m., individuals began throwing frozen or hardboiled eggs, rocks, and commercial grade fireworks at officers in the parking lot.
Because of the criminal activity that took place, the event was declared an unlawful assembly. At 1 a.m., both Oregon State Police and Portland Police officers began dispersing the crowd to the east.
Officers used crowd control munitions because of the danger of the projectiles that were being thrown at them.
By 2:30 a.m., most of the crowd had left the area.
24 people were arrested during the unlawful assembly.
