#Portland police declare riot as anti-cop protesters torch union headquarters

Enlarge Image

A Portland police car is vandalized amid a riot.
Portland Police

Anti-cop protesters in Portland, Oregon, torched the city’s police union headquarters Saturday night as local law enforcement officials declared a riot, according to reports.

Portland police declared the riot at around 10:50 p.m. after demonstrators barricaded the North Portland offices of the Portland Police Association, which reps the city’s cops, The Oregonian reported.

Despite an order to disperse, vigilantes proceeded to break into the building and set fires.

“People have broken into the Portland Police Association office and lit the building on fire,” the Portland Police Bureau said on Twitter at 10:51.

Cops extinguished the fires and “restored order in the neighborhood,” the agency said in an update posted at 11:43.

Saturday marked Portland’s 52nd straight night of anti-cop protests, which began in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

On Friday, a different group of protesters faced off with officers outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland, according to Fox News.

Federal and local law enforcement deployed tear gas just before midnight to clear out the demonstrators, the report said.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf has called the demonstrations a “violent mob” and said local leaders “refuse to restore order.”

Oregon officials in turn accuse Wolf of sending masked, camouflaged agents to detain and seize protesters without probable cause.

On Saturday, House Speak Nancy Pelosi said federal police were “kidnapping” protesters, and likened the arrests to a “banana republic.”

Federal officials have called the accusations “outrageous.”