On Monday, July 20, thousands gathered at the Justice Center and Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, including hundreds of Portland moms in dressed in yellow and dads in orange. Some of the moms were carrying sunflowers and a number of dads brought leaf blowers. This event marked the 54th consecutive day of protests in Portland’s downtown area.
This crowd, one of the largest in recent weeks, gathered first in front of the Justice Center, where they listened to speeches and chanted.
As protest leaders led the chants in front of the courthouse and Justice Center around 9, several unmarked vehicles carrying federal officers pulled into the back of the courthouse. Some of these cars had Texas license plates and all of the officers were in unidentifiable military fatigues that simply read “police.”
This comes after the Oregon Attorney General sued the federal government for allowing unidentifiable federal officers to patrol the streets and apprehend people in unmarked vehicles.
One person stood near the entrance filming and an officer rolled down the tinted windows and yelled at him to “f***ing move.” Another officer came out of the building, stood right in front of him and pushed him back. He then went back inside the doorway where approximately eight officers in fatigues stood, some holding munitions guns.
It would be several hours until these officers emerged from the building to push back the crowd. In the meantime, protest leaders stood on the steps of the Justice Center talking to those gathered peacefully around.
One of the protest leaders told the crowd how much it means to her to see so many fellow moms in the crowd. She said that before she leaves for the protests, her 5 year-old daughter always asks “Are you going to be okay, mommy? Are there going to be cops there? Are you going to come home?”
Her speech was met with loud cheers from the crowds particularly the moms in the crowd. The moms are part of a “Wall of Moms,” which has captured attention across the globe. This was the wall’s third day participating in the protests and their goal is to de-escalate. So far, members of the group have had stun grenades thrown at their feet, and been arrested and tear gassed. At least one local woman suffered a head injury when she was shot. In response, every night their numbers seem to grow.
Protestors chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot,” while they put their hands in the air. Then a three-year-old girl led a chant of “Black lives matter.” This was met with loud cheers from organizers and the crowd.
Around 10:30, a protestor sang “We Shall Overcome.” As she sang, the crowd raised their phones in the air with flashlights turned on.
After this, most of the crowd began to march peacefully through the streets of Portland. They did a large loop chanting and holding signs. The march was so long that different sections chanted different things at the same time. They chanted phrases such as “Stay together, stay tight, we do this every night,” “Say her name, Breonna Taylor,” “Say his name, George Floyd” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
At around 11 p.m., protestors stopped marching and took a moment of silence. They stood quietly with their right fists raised in honor of victims of police brutality. After this, leaders told them to shout the name of any victim of police brutality on the count of three. Lots of people said Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, but many other names could be heard as well.
Back at the Justice Center and courthouse, a small group remained. They projected sayings onto the front of the Justice Center, including “Power To The People.” They also lit a fire where the elk statue used to be, something that is quickly becoming a nightly tradition.
People also milled around within the portico of the Federal Courthouse, as the reinforced fence had not been replaced. This came after two nights of protestors dismantling the fence and using it to barricade the doors. Another change was that the portico was fully lit, unlike the night before when all the lights had been turned off.
The large group returned to the Justice Center at around 11:20 p.m. A little after this people heard reports that there were Portland Police behind the Justice Center. A group from the Wall of Moms went down and linked arms at the intersection of SW 2nd Ave. and SW Main. There were no police by the time they arrived in formation, with one protestor saying that they had just missed the shift change.
The Wall of Moms returned to the rally where people were gathered in front of the courthouse and within the portico. The crowd chanted “Feds go home,” a chant which was heard numerous times nightly, as well as, “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?”
At this point, the only encounters between protestors and federal officers have been through the windows of the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building. Officers were seen twice looking out and they were met with protestors yelling at them through the glass.
Protestors continued to gather in front of the courthouse. They talked amongst each other, listened to music and chanted sporadically.
Then around 12:15 a.m., a small group of protestors began to try to break into the courthouse. The vast majority of the protestors were peacefully chanting. The small group began to rip apart the plywood that was covering the windows and by 12:25 had reached the bulletproof glass beneath. They then began to hit the glass with tools, shattering the first layer.
It was at this point that Federal Officers arrived, firing stun grenades, tear gas and rounds of riot control munitions. They used enough tear gas and chemical smoke that it filled the air in front of the courthouse.
By 12:40, the officers had formed a line on Main street and on the side of Lownsdale Park closest to the courthouse. Fires burned at both the remnants of the elk statue and the pioneer family statute. Tear gas remained heavy in the air and officers periodically used stun grenades.
Protestors had formed a line in front of the elk statue. They had shields and umbrellas forming a wall. This line was pushed back a little when officers began to fire more gas and flash bangs, but the retreat was only momentarily.
By 1 a.m., protestors had pushed their line up to the west side of the intersection of SW 3rd and SW Main. Some federal officers had returned to the Edith Green Federal Building, the rest stood in front of the courthouse. This was while several worked to barricade the section of the plywood and windows which had been broken.
Federal officers began to throw stun grenades and tear gas and shot riot control munitions at the line in an attempt to break up the crowd. Despite the heavy tear gas, the line of protestors advanced through the tear gas, forcing the officers back into the courthouse by 1:25.
The officers then opened the peepholes in the side of the courthouse. Protestors began to throw water bottles at them from behind the shield line, in an attempt to get one through the opening. The officers responded with rounds of pepper balls.
By 1:40 a.m., the peephole was closed and federal officers stopped engaging. Protestors continued to throw water bottles at the side of the building.
Eventually, protestors moved from behind the line. A small group began to light a fire at the base of a tree in front of the courthouse. Other protestors ran over and put out the fire while saying “it’s our [the people’s] tree, not their [the federal officers’] tree.” This prompted a yelling match over whether lighting the tree on fire would help or hurt the cause.
Someone else lit a small fire on the side of some of the plywood on the front of the courthouse at around 2:30 a.m. With this, federal officers came running out of the building firing munitions and stun grenades. One of the federal officers pointed to two protestors, and another one threw a stun grenade directly at those protestors, despite warnings on the label of canisters to throw them only in cleared areas due to the risk of death or bodily injury.
Approximately two dozen officers also marched over from the Edith Green Federal Building to provide reinforcements to the ones in front of the courthouse. This pushed the protestors back into the park.
Officers held their line for a little while before advancing further. As they held their line, a man went up and began to do yoga in front of them. As he knelt in front of them, officers fired several pepperballs right in front of him, then for an unclear reason, stopped.
Then at around 2:40 a.m., federal officers began to march up through the park. As they moved they shoved the man doing yoga and proceeded to pepper spray him in the face even though he was sitting there peacefully.
They continued to advance through the park, then stopped again at the intersection of SW 4th and SW Main. Most of the protestors were further up 4th. The people standing by that intersection were press and a few protestors.
Officers then shot some munitions, chemical smoke and tear gas, before returning to the courthouse at 3 a.m.
By then only 50 to 60 protestors remained and the energy had died down. Most of them were hanging out in the park chatting, while a couple protestors stood in the portico.
