#Portland police chief slams ‘evil’ protesters who burned precinct

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Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP

The newly appointed police chief, mayor and members of Portland, Oregon’s black community slammed protesters who set fire to a police precinct early Friday morning and vandalized businesses.

They said the rioters were harming the community and urged them to stop.

Police Chief Chuck Lovell, who is black, called the actions “not only reprehensible, but they’re evil.” He stressed that people were inside the precinct when vandals barricaded the doors after they were unable to break through a garage.

“It needs to stop, and it needs to stop today,‘’ Lovell said, according to the Oregonian.

Several hundred demonstrators set fire to the North Precinct building. Police in riot gear used CS gas, a type of tear gas, around 2:15 a.m. to disperse them.

Local black leaders called the criminal activity the work of “terrorists,‘’ “delinquents,‘’ and the “act of a coward.‘’ They accused rioters of undermining the Black Lives Movement and damaging black-owned businesses.

Mayor Ted Wheeler called the destruction “a horrible, horrendous miscalculation.”

A local community activist said the black community will no longer tolerate such destruction in its neighborhoods.

“When I hear about somebody burning something down, I think that is an act that’s always been used against black people,‘’ Ronnie Herndon said.

“That is a tactic that’s been used to destroy black people, not help black people. So whoever the demented individual is who did this … you are not helping us.”