PORTLAND (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd July, 2020) US federal forces spent hours clashing overnight with protesters in the city Portland after a peaceful demonstration devolved and small groups of protesters set fires and vandalized government property, the local police force said in a statement on Wednesday.
For "several hours, Federal Police Officers continued to disperse the crowd westbound and the group slowly dissipated. 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. No arrests were made by Portland Police," the statement said.
Two journalists from Russia's Channel One were attacked and beaten by law enforcement officers while covering the protests, a Sputnik correspondent reported. It was unclear which US law enforcement agency the officers represent. Russia's Foreign Ministry has denounced the attack as "unacceptable" aggression against the media.
Tuesday night's protest began peacefully, with demonstrators gathering for several hours near the courthouse, where they "danced and made speeches," the city police statement said.
At around 10:15 p.m., some protesters wearing helmets and masks began using hammers, crowbars and other tools to pound the exterior doors of the Federal Courthouse. At 11:12 p.m., federal forces began dispersing the protests, the police said.
The group of protesters re-emerged at 12:30 a.m. and set fires at two doors to the Federal Courthouse. "Some other people downtown set several small fires while other people vandalized and spray painted both city, federal, and private property," the police said.
Russian journalists Viacheslav Arkhipov and Yulia Olkhovskaya were attacked by law enforcement officers while reporting from the scene as protesters began setting fires at the courthouse.
The officers hit Russian cameraman Arkhipov with a baton on his arm, took away his camera and smashed it, and then threw him to the ground, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
Olkhovskaya was attacked by a policeman from the back. A law enforcement officer seized her smartphone, grabbed her by the head and took off her helmet. Olkhovskaya fell to the ground, as she kept shouting that she was a representative of the press., the Sputnik correspondent reported.
US President Donald Trump sent the federal forces to Portland to help maintain law and order, and to protect the Federal Courthouse, the focus of ongoing protests over the last several weeks.
The deployment has drawn criticism after reports emerged that federal officers, without badges or name tags, have detained protesters in an extrajudicial manner.
�Local leaders, including the city mayor and state leaders, have called on the Trump administration to withdraw the federal law enforcement officers from Portland.
