More On:
Portland protests
Protest leader charged with trying to murder Portland cops
‘Nazis work here’: Anti-cop protesters graffiti wall, start fire outside police union HQ
22-year-old Portland protester arrested twice in the same day
Portland’s people have finally had enough of the rolling lefty riots
A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility burned during a Saturday night protest in Portland, Ore., that ended with federal agents shooting pepper balls to disperse rioters, according to reports.
The run-in marked another evening of chaos in the City of Roses, where sometimes-violent protests have raged nearly nightly for almost a year.
“The Portland ICE facility is currently on fire,” wrote independent journalist Grace Morgan in a tweet accompanied by a 7-second video clip of the small blaze.
In the clip, flames lap at a large sheet of wood on the building’s exterior marked with graffiti messages such as, “Reunite!” and “F–k ICE.”
Clips posted by Morgan and other freelance journalists on Twitter do not show exactly how the fire started, but previous tweets show rioters starting a small blaze in a facility driveway a few feet away.
“First ANTIFA fire of the night has already kicked off, so far people are just warming their hands on this cold night,” Morgan captioned a still photo of about a half-dozen people gathered around a small blaze, some reaching their hands close to it.
By the next tweet in Morgan’s thread, rioters had begun pelting the facility with projectiles.
“A small fire is started in the ICE driveway among broken glass bottles, a flair [sic] is thrown over the gate, protesters throw eggs at the door,” she wrote. “So far no response or sight of officers.”
Rioters ignored loudspeaker warnings against trespassing and ripped down fences at the building’s perimeter, wrote Morgan.
The driveway fire, meanwhile, grew larger, fed by what appeared to be at least two wooden pallets, Morgan’s photos show.
“Fire outside the Portland ICE facility,” she captioned one shot of the growing flames. “The crowd chants ‘This is what community looks like!’”
Morgan’s next tweet contained the video of the front of the facility on fire.
“The ICE building has been set on fire,” wrote Chris Landis, another freelance journalist, in a separate shot of the flames climbing up the side of the structure.
Subsequent videos posted by Morgan show federal agents emerge from the building to push back the rioters with force.
“Federal agents retreat and unload hundreds of pepper bullets on protesters outside the Portland ICE facility,” she captioned one such tweet.
It was not immediately clear if anyone was injured or arrested in the chaos.
Protests have raged across Portland since last year, fueled variously by police brutality, racial discrimination and a disdain of US immigration policy.
The demonstrations have often devolved into violent clashes, whether with law enforcement, right-wing counterprotesters or local politicians.
Share this article:
Source: Read Full Article