WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2020) The US city of Portland saw relative peace outside a federal courthouse for the first time in more month as state and local police - also for the first time - joined federal agents in protecting the besieged building, the Department of Homeland Security said in a press release.
"Following Wednesday's announcement of a cooperation agreement between DHS and Oregon's governor, Oregon State Police (OSP) and the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) stepped in to assist operations to protect the Hatfield Federal Courthouse. Crowds remained peaceful through the course of the evening; there were no reported actions and thus no intervention by state or federal officers," the release said on Friday.
The calm held on Thursday night and early hours of Friday after OSP, PPB and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department cleared city parks in the vicinity of the federal courthouse, arresting two and confiscating several weapons including a sledgehammer.
On previous nights, rioters had used the parks as staging grounds for two months to attack the courthouse.
Until Wednesday's agreement, state and local police had refused to cooperate amid criticism of the federal deployment by Governor Kate Brown.
