On the night of Friday, July 24, thousands gathered at the Justice Center and Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse to rally in support of Black Lives Matter and against the occupation of federal agents. This crowd was one of the biggest groups that Portland has seen since nightly protests began 58 days ago. The night included more standoffs with federal agents and the heavy deployment of gas, including an increase in pepper gas.
These nightly standoffs with federal agents have brought national attention to the movement in Portland and reinvigorated crowds. This has prompted the number of people nightly to grow significantly.
The rally began on the steps of the Multnomah County Justice Center in the evening. This was accompanied by a car parade, which drove around the area. Many of the cars were adorned with “Black Lives Matter” decorations and many of the drivers were honking their horns in beat to the chants.
At approximately 9:40 p.m., a large march arrived. The march included moms from the “Wall of Moms,” dads, veterans, teachers, medical professionals, lawyers, chefs, social workers, and more. In addition to those marching, there were medical professionals within the larger crowd offering first aid and medical support. There was also a medical station set up by OHSU doctors and nurses at the corner of Madison and 4th.
At its height, the crowd spanned two blocks and filled much of both Lownsdale and Chapman Squares. The protestors listened to Black protest leaders speak and participated in chants at the Justice Center. There was also a drum circle of protestors near the intersection of Salmon and 3rd.
One speaker asked the crowd to raise their hands if they had brought helmets. Much of the crowd did. He then talked about how it is a shame that protestors have to bring helmets to exercise their first amendment rights. He went on to say that protestors must continue to show up and protest the “breaching” of their constitutional rights.
The speeches were interspersed with chants such as “Whose lives matter? Black lives matter,” “No justice, no peace,” “Hey, hey, ho, ho, these racist cops have got to go” and “Feds go home.”
Someone also projected a picture of George Floyd onto the front of the Justice Center. This was later replaced by the phrase “Fed Goons Out Of PDX.”
At the same time, the moms had formed a wall around the perimeter of the protest. In front of the fence, another wall formed of military service people, including one man in his dress uniform.
A little before 11 p.m., protestors turned on their flashlights, raised their phones and began to wave them. As they did this they chanted “Black lives matter.” After chanting, they took a moment of silence in honor of police brutality victims.
Around 11 p.m., the crowd shifted to the front of the federal courthouse. Protestors on the front line began to shake the reinforced fence and shot off several fireworks at the building. The Federal Protective Service, the Department of Homeland Security’s [DHS] police force, made several announcements to leave the fence alone. These announcements prompted a large group of the crowd to leave.
In preparation for the appearance of federal officers, protestors placed plastic sheets across the fence to block impact munitions. Protestors also put on gas masks and prepared their leaf blowers to blow the smoke away. One protestor even brought out a saw in an attempt to cut through the fence.
Then around 11:15 p.m., federal officers emerged from the courthouse shooting impact munitions. They came up to the fence and deployed a few canisters of chemical smoke.
After around 10 minutes, officers deployed several more canisters of chemical smoke and shot several rounds of impact munitions into the crowd. Protestors responded by firing a large firework towards them as they moved back.
Protestors continued to shake the fence, however, they were unable to breach it. They also threw several large fireworks over the fence.
Then at 11:35 p.m., officers came out of the courthouse again firing impact munitions and a few chemical gas canisters. Most of the gas was deployed within the fence, along the perimeter, however, some were tossed over the fence into the crowds.
There were also at least two DHS officers who were carrying leaf blowers to blow the chemical gas towards protestors. This was a new tool for federal agents, however, protestors had been using leaf blowers as a defense tool all week, especially among a group called “PDX Dad Pod.” There ended up being several times throughout the night when an agent and protestor with leaf blowers attempted to blow the same wafts of gas back and forth at each other.
For over an hour, federal agents simply stood within the fence line facing the crowd. There was at least one agent holding what appeared to be a semiautomatic assault rifle. The rest of the agents held gas canisters and impact munitions guns; however, they did not use them except once around 12:30 a.m. and occasionally deployed a single canister to move the crowd from the fence.
Around 12:30, officers used several canisters to fill the air with gas, including tear gas, in an attempt to push the crowd back from the fence. This was largely unsuccessful as many in the crowd stood their ground and the agents returned to simply standing opposite the protestors.
As agents stood there, protestors yelled at them to “Remember their oath” and told them that they should be ashamed of themselves. Protestors told agents to use their crowd control weapons because “We [protestors] know you [agents] want to.” Protestors used many expletives when yelling at the officers, particularly common were derogatory names for women.
Protestors also threw dozens of the things over the fence at federal agents, including, but not limited to, fireworks, oranges, traffic cones, apples, water bottles, cans and glass bottles. Many of the officers were hit repeatedly. One limped back into the building after appearing to be hit.
Several protestors used high powered flashing lights and lasers. They pointed these towards agents’ eyes in an attempt to block their line of sight.
Then at 1:10 a.m., agents began to throw numerous canisters over the fence into the group. This gassing remained relatively continuous for about 50 minutes. Protestors attempted to use leaf blowers to clear the gas and repeatedly threw canisters back at the agents. Protestors also responded with throwing fireworks towards the federal agents.
At around 2 a.m. the gas, a mix of CS gas [tear gas] and OC gas [pepper spray] filled the air around the courthouse. The gas was so heavy that even protestors in well-made gas masks were forced to move several blocks back.
After about 15 minutes, the several hundred protestors who remained gathered back near the courthouse. A trash fire was started in the middle of the intersection of 3rd and Salmon.
A group of a dozen protestors formed a line at this same time. They held shields and faced officers standing within the fence. More gas was released.
A little after 2:30 a.m., more than two dozen agents marched out of the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building and marched down 3rd. As they marched one protestor played the “Imperial March” from Star Wars over a speaker.
These officers went to the intersection of 3rd and Salmon, where a standoff with protestors ensued.
Another group of federal agents also gathered on SW 4th and Taylor, several blocks from federal property. Several of them took a man into custody, while the rest created a line across the street in front of the 7-11. This group stood there, but did not use impact munitions.
Portland Police arrived shortly and arrested the man. They later announced on Twitter that the man had been involved in a stabbing. Portland Police then left.
Federal agents then moved back to the intersection of SW 4th and Salmon. They formed a perimeter around the intersection facing protestors on both sides. Protestors went up to them and began to yell in their faces “Shame,” “What are doing?” “Quit your job” and more.
After several minutes the agents began to move back releasing a handful of gas canisters. They also shot several rounds of pepper balls at the feet of protestors.
By 3:20 a.m., agents had returned to both federal buildings. There were about 100 protestors left in the area by that time and several called it a night after the agents left. The rest hung out in the park or walked along the fence looking for used munitions remnants.
