PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Twenty-six people were arrested by Portland police after protesters gathered outside the bureau’s North Precinct and blocked streets late Saturday night.
Protesters were warned they would be subject to arrest and crowd control munitions, including tear gas, if they were to enter the closed North Precinct property. Police later clarified ” the term ‘tear gas’ is required by state law to be included in such warnings” even though they are forbidden from using it by an order of Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Police tweeted shortly after 10 p.m. that most in the crowd, estimated to be about 75 people, were dressed in black. ” Virtually all of them wore armor, helmets, masks, and/or carried shields and umbrellas,” police said early Sunday.
Citing safety concerns for the protesters — dressed in black and hard to see on a busy road — and “the crowd’s posture, including their armored attire,” police took action to break up the gathering earlier rather than later, they said.
Police cleared the roads and then made targeted arrests, they said. The 26 people are from the Portland metro area and all are charged with interfering with a police officer and disorderly conduct. A few also face a charge of resisting arrest.
Those arrested range in age from 18 to 42.
