PORTLAND, OR—On Saturday, August 15, the police declared a riot in Portland and 11 people were arrested.
A large gathering of hundreds of people gathered around the Penumbra Kelly Building in the 4700 block of East Burnside Street, blocking all lanes of East Burnside Street from Northeast 47th Avenue to Northeast 50th Avenue.
The Portland Police Department gave warning against committing criminal activity, and the crowd continued to block the street.
At 11:17 p.m., authorities reported that members of the crowd launched mortars at the police, shined green light at them, and threw other objects at them including large river rocks, frozen eggs, glass bottles, and frozen water bottles.
Some crowds also chanted “kill a cop, save a life,” “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! If we don’t get it, burn it down!”
The Portland Police Department tweeted: “People are continually throwing softball size rocks, glass bottles and other objects at police. People have spray painted over security cameras and committed other acts of vandalism. People are trespassing on the property.”
The crowd remained violent until around 1:45 a.m., when there were only around 75-100 people still there. For an hour, a group stood around a fire and ignited a dumpster.
Two police officers were injured and taken to the hospital because of rocks thrown at them. While the police department was occupied with the riot, over 60 police service calls were on hold around the city. Call types ranged from theft, vandalism, suspicious activity, hazards, hit and run, burglary, violation of restraining order, alarms, stolen cars, harassment and many others.
