Three arrested in Portland amid scuffles with police

[August 21, 2020]    (Reuters) - About 100 people blocked traffic, vandalized an immigration building, set fires to dumpsters, and threw rocks and glass bottles at police in the Oregon city of Portland on Thursday night, police said, adding they had arrested three people.

Protesters confront with the police near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement centre in Portland, Oregon, U.S., August 20, 2020, in this still image from a video obtained from social media. TWITTER/GRAVEMORGAN via REUTERS

The gathering, declared unlawful by the police, followed successive nights of the police declaring a riot in parts of the northwestern city, including on Wednesday around the same Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building.

Police said they did not have to use tear gas or crowd control munitions on Thursday night.

Demonstrations against racism and police brutality swept the United States after the police killing in May of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. In Portland, protests have erupted occasionally in arson and violence.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr was strongly criticized by Democratic politicians for sending federal officers to Portland to disperse protesters who had lit fires and broken windows at the city's courthouse.

On Thursday, Portland police issued a timeline of protests, showcasing they had declared riots 17 times between May 29 and Aug. 19.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Frances Kerry)

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