Minnesota police who shot Daunte Wright sparked furious protests in many U.S. cities Monday night – with a riot in Portland, Oregon, when a mob of hundreds attacked officers, officials said.
At least 40 people were arrested on a second violent night in Brooklyn Center, the Minneapolis suburb where Wright was murdered Sunday, and protesters gathered in other cities for a show of unity.
“Burn the terrain to the ground in every town and town!” a crowd marching through Portland was filmed singing.
There were also reports of demonstrations in Los Angeles, California, while parts of Seattle, Washington, were covered in anti-police graffiti as black-clad protesters repeatedly blocked main roads, KIRO 7 said.
Photos also showed protesters, also in black clothing, streaming through a Washington DC metro station as hundreds gathered in the capital.
In the Big Apple, dozens of protesters closed part of the Manhattan Bridge on Monday evening in what was mostly a peaceful protest.
Only one woman, a 22-year-old, was sued for interfering with government administration, resisting arrest and criminal possession of a pepper spray weapon, the NYPD said.
However, in Portland – the troubled city that saw the most turbulent protests after George Floyd’s death last May – Antifa militants were once again seen clashing with police and attempting to storm government buildings Monday night.
According to police, for the first time, reports came from homeowners that people marching through their area were stealing stones and landscape stones to use as weapons against the police in the city center.
They then attempted to storm the Penumbra Kelly Building, which houses offices for multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Portland Police Department and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.
Portland Police reported that there was a crowd of “about 200 people, most of them aggressive towards the police.”
“People [threw] glass bottles, frozen water bottles, rocks, ball bearings and other objects, and fireworks parallel to the ground in the direction of the police and the building, ” said the department, initially declaring it an illegal meeting.
“The crowd’s behavior did not improve, and the incident command declared a riot.”
Officers responded with ammunition and flash-bang grenades, and at one point, the protesters stormed through the bulls, pushing them to the ground, and beating them, The Oregonian reported.
Elsewhere in town, a group cut through a chain-link fence to access a parking lot near the historic building where the Portland Police Bureau’s traffic offices are located at the same time the riot took place, police said.
The suspects, who had fled before agents responded, had smashed windows and smashed tapes of several police vehicles.
In Seattle – another hotbed of violent protests last year – police warned people to avoid an area where protesters repeatedly blocked traffic.
photos shared by the police showed graffiti including “BLM” and the anti-police phrase “F – k 12.”
In DC, photos showed a large group of black-clad protesters jumping over turnstiles at a subway station while hundreds protested Monday night, Fox 5 said.
