Portland cops arrest 8 for damaging Democratic Party offices, ICE after inauguration
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jan 22, 2021
Anti-government and anti-fascist protesters in Portland and Seattle vandalised a Democratic Party office and other buildings and scuffled with police on Wednesday, protesting against President Joe Biden's inauguration.
Video clips show people holding signs saying, "We are ungovernable" and "We don't want Biden - We want revenge!" for "Police Murders", "Imperialist Wars" and "Fascist Massacres".
People dressed in black and with their faces covered broke windows and the glass door at the Democratic Party of OR business office in Portland, spray-painting an anarchist symbol over the party sign, video posted on social media showed.
Yet, scores of leftists protesters took to the streets in West Coast cities.
Multiple individuals in Portland, Oregon are in custody after Antifa and far-left protestors caused extensive damage to the area.
Before descending on the offices of the Democratic Party of OR, the crowd scuffled with police on bikes, who were monitoring the area where the group had told supporters to meet. The charges range from felony criminal mischief to possession of a destructive device. Federal law enforcement officers responded by launching "crowd control munitions", while Portland police officers "were standing by to address crimes in the surrounding neighborhood", according to police.
Some of the protesters also demonstrated against Mr. Biden on the day of his inauguration.
A crowd of about 150 people gathered at Revolution Hall, a music venue in southeast Portland, and marched to the headquarters of the Democratic Party of OR on Wednesday afternoon.
Demonstrations occurred in other parts of the United States. For most of the nation, the day was quiet. In Seattle, protesters damaged property and hurled objects at cars.
In Denver, multiple protesters marched, chanting anti-Biden and anti-Trump slogans.
Protests in the Northwest region were initially triggered previous year by anger over killings of Black Americans by law enforcement officers across the country.
Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said the anti-Biden protests undercut Democrats who spent the summer blaming President Trump for civil unrest in major cities across the country. "They were doing it because they hate America".
