Violence erupts in Portland ‘riot’ as anti-Trump protests continue in cities across the nation

By Leah Sottile and Samantha Schmidt for THE WASHINGTON POST

PORTLAND, Ore.— Police in Portland declared the city’s protests a “riot” Thursday night as throngs shut down streets, smashed windows, vandalized cars and set small fires into the early morning hours as part of a wave of protests in cities across the country against the election of Donald Trump.

Around 4,000 people took to Portland’s streets at the peak of the demonstration, confronting drivers, spray painting buildings and smashing electrical boxes with baseball bats, Pete Simpson, public information officer for the Portland Police department, told The Washington Post. By early Friday morning, at least 29 people had been arrested in Portland, police said.

Police used pepper spray and “rubber baton rounds,” among other things, in efforts to disperse protesters.

What began as a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest at about 6 p.m. escalated as the night wore on due to demonstrators not affiliated with the group, said Teressa Raiford, a community organizer in Portland.

“They’re not coming to show solidarity, they’re coming because they know there’s going to be a big crowd,” Raiford said. “They don’t respect our movement.”

Simpson said anarchists “aligned with the Black Bloc groups” infiltrated the peaceful demonstration “covered head-to-toe and carrying weapons.”

“Their tactic is go out and destroy property,” Simpson said. Peaceful protesters tried to stop the more violent individuals, but “they’re not having any luck,” Simpson said.

After protesters began throwing objects at police, and refusing orders to disperse, authorities used nonlethal flash grenades to move the crowd. “It’s definitely fair to say we are significantly outnumbered,” Simpson said. Thursday’s protest was “one of the larger marches we’ve seen in the last few years,” he said.

Anger at the outcome of the election and a professed unwillingness to accept it are widespread on the Internet, despite the conciliatory words from Hillary Clinton and President Obama, with thousands of people declaring on social media that the president-elect is “never my president” or “not my president,” phrases that showed up on placards at protests. But only a relative few sharing that sentiment have actually taken to the streets.

Trump and some of his supporters were heavily criticized during the campaign when they suggested they might not accept the result if Trump lost.

[Forget reconciliation. For thousands, it’s #nevermypresident when it comes to Donald Trump.]

Protests had begun early Wednesday in the biggest U.S. cities — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — and flared in places from Portland and Seattle to Philadelphia and Richmond, along with cities in red states such as Atlanta, Dallas, Omaha and Kansas City, Mo.

Nationwide protests continued for a second night, turning destructive in some cities as thousands marched against Donald Trump's election. Trump tweeted to condemn "professional protesters, incited by the media." (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Οn Thursday, about 600 “anti-trump” protesters marched to downtown Baltimore and blocked streets. Following a rally in downtown Minneapolis, several thousand protesters blocked the heavily-traveled Interstate 94 for about an hour Thursday night, causing a major traffic backup in both directions, the Star Tribune reported. 

In Oakland, officials pleaded with demonstrators to remain peaceful Thursday after the previous night’s violence. Several incidents of graffiti — with phrases such as “Kill Trump” — were reported. Protesters set many small street fires and smashed a handful of windows, but the disorder did not appear as widespread as the night before, SF Gate reported. At least a half dozen arrests were made.

More than 300 people marched through downtown Los Angeles Thursday night, many yelling the words, “We reject the president-elect.” Protesters halted traffic, threw bottles at officers, tagged police cars with graffiti and launched fireworks, the Los Angeles Times reported. But the protest was mostly peaceful, and it drew much fewer in number than the crowd of thousands on Wednesday night.

By 1 a.m., multiple arrests were made by the Los Angeles Police Department for either vandalism or disobeying lawful order, Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally tweeted.

The protests drew a rebuke from Trump, who met with President Obama at the White House Thursday morning, “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!,” Trump said on Twitter, without specifying what he meant by “incited by the media.”

It was his first comment about the protests and one of few statements he has made since claiming victory over Hillary Clinton early Wednesday morning. In 2012, after Obama was elected to a second term, Trump tweeted: “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!”

On Thursday, former New York Mayor and ardent Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani chimed in, calling the protesters “a bunch of spoiled crybabies” in a Fox News interview.

In Portland, protesters chanted “not my president” while carrying signs that read, “Oppression thrives off isolation. Stand united,” “We reject the fascist agenda,” and “You’re fired!” The Oregonian reported. 

Mike Bivins, a local freelance journalist, said the protest took a noticeable turn as demonstrators passed a Northeast Portland car dealership, where some started breaking car windows. A dumpster and a newsstand were set on fire.

As protesters reached the Pearl District, a wealthy Northwest Portland neighborhood, “it became a free for all” of property damage, Simpson said.

The crowd began to splinter off after midnight, Portland Police tweeted, but remaining protesters continued to vandalize the area and throw “objectiles” at police.

Protesters lit fires and shot flares into the air, with some dragging newspaper boxes into lines across streets. Other demonstrators took photos of themselves — giving the camera a thumbs-up sign — in front of a line of cops wearing riot gear.

Into the early morning hours, police continued to tweet messages urging the protests to end. “This is an unlawful assembly. Please disperse immediately,” the police tweeted repeatedly.

Leah Sottile reported from Portland; Kari Lyderson from Chicago; Nick Romeo from Berkeley, Calif.; Eva Ruth Moravec from Austin; Katie Zezima from Santa Ana, Calif.; Les Neuhaus from Tamp; Bobby Allyn from Philadelphia; Philip Bump, Ryan Carey-Mahoney, Kayla Epstein, Renae Merle and Anne Gearan from New York; and Fenit Nirappil and Juliet Eilprin contributed from Washington.