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Portland Democratic leaders, as well as those on the state level, pledged last month that the non-stop violence in the city would subside if President Donald Trump agreed to pull federal agents out of a courthouse that was under siege for weeks.
The administration came to an agreement in late July to reduce the presence of federal officers at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse and allow Portland police and Oregon State Patrol officers to take over providing security for the building.
But the agreement did not end the violence or the rioting. After the Feds pulled out most personnel, the state police did so as well after Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced he would not prosecute the vast majority of people arrested committing acts of violence and destruction.
And now, Antifa and other anarchists have turned their attention back to Portland police, who have become so inundated with rioting they haven’t got the time — or personnel — to answer other emergency calls, Fox News reported Sunday.
The department was unable to respond to more than 60 calls into 9-1-1 from residents that included reports of hit-and-run, burglary, theft, vandalism, and suspicious activity.
The Portland Police Bureau was forced to declare yet another riot on the 80th straight day of unrest in the city around midnight after protests besieged the Penumbra Kelly Building, which is used by city and county employees as well as the police department.
“Some threw objects at police cars in the parking lot of the building and spray-painted over security cameras. Others shined green lasers at officers’ eyes and pelted police with softball-sized ‘river rocks’ and glass bottles,” Fox News reported.
In one instance, a male motorist was dragged from his pickup truck and beaten senseless after rioters claimed he attempted to run them over, which he denied before being knocked out by a vicious roundhouse kick.
Two Portland officers were sent to the hospital, the department noted. A photo shared by the PPB shows a nearly-10-pound rock that was heaved at an officer by a rioter posing as “press” while the cop “prepared to ride away on a truck.” A number of arrests were made, but given Schmidt’s recent statements, it’s unclear whether any of them will be tried, much less convicted.
People assault police with projectiles causing injuries – arrests (Photo) https://t.co/TPXdjshBKp pic.twitter.com/RHPCQYrXEf
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 16, 2020
“At the time of this release over 60 calls for police service were holding around the city,” the PPB reported in a statement.
“Some had been holding for the length of the events described here. Call types ranged from theft, vandalism, suspicious activity, hazards, hit and run, burglary, violation of restraining order, alarms, stolen cars, harassment and many others.”
At the same time, police were dealing with another night of violence, other officers were tied down in a stand-off with an armed burglary suspect in the city’s Forest Park region.
“Some of the protests escalate to property damage or other tactics to provoke police. Those demonstrations — and the police response to them — have drawn sharp criticism from President Donald Trump,” The Oregonian reported.
The paper added that police arrested 11 people “on allegations ranging from riot to criminal mischief, interfering with an officer to assaulting an officer and disorderly conduct.”
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Jon@bizpacreview.com
Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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