WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2020) US federal law enforcement officers used tear gas overnight to disperse protesters near a courthouse in downtown Portland, the city's police force said in a statement on Monday.
"Portland Police Bureau is aware federal law enforcement have deployed CS gas in the area of the Federal Courthouse. Avoid the area for safety," the police said via Twitter.
In a separate statement on Monday morning, the city police force said federal officers began dispersing the protesters at 11:50 p.m. after several individuals with shields, helmets, bats, hockey sticks and gas masks began approaching the doors of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland.
Federal officers dispersed the crowd, but another group of individuals later regrouped near the courthouse and�at 1:34 a.m. lit a fire within the portico in the front of the building, the statement said.
"At 1:42 a.m. federal law enforcement came out of the courthouse, dispersed the crowd and extinguished the fire," the police statement said, while emphasizing that city officers took no part in the deployment of any tear gas. "Portland Police were not present during any of the activity described. Portland Police did not engage with any crowds and did not deploy any CS gas."
Portland has been in turmoil since reports emerged saying that federal officers, without badges or name tags, have been quelling protests and detaining people in an extrajudicial manner. The city's mostly progressive populace has accused the local police force of working closely with the federal agents and placing protesters at risk.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has called on US President Donald Trump to withdraw the federal agents from the city and accused them of overstepping their stated objective of protecting federal buildings.
Ongoing protests in Portland are a continuation of a nationwide movement against police brutality and racial injustice triggered by the killing of George Floyd, an African American man who died in police custody in late May.
