Federal agents fire tear gas again at Portland protesters
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[July 24, 2020]
By Deborah Bloom
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Federal agents
fired tear gas canisters at Black Lives Matter demonstrators in downtown
Portland early on Friday in a 56th straight day of protests, amid
growing scrutiny over the use of border patrol officers in the city.
Positioned behind a steel fence, agents began firing tear gas after a
small group of protesters, many helmeted and wearing face masks, lit a
fire at the entrance of the building shortly after midnight.
Saying they were being hit with projectiles and lasers, federal agents
declared an unlawful assembly and forced protesters back up a block from
the federal courthouse.
The agents then retreated to a different corner of the courthouse and
confronted protesters there, lobbing more canisters that bounced off the
walls of buildings into protesters. Journalists were clearly
identifiable in the crowd.
Security forces have frequently tear-gassed and clubbed demonstrators
during the unrest. The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday it would
investigate the use of force by federal agents in Portland after another
night of unrest in which Mayor Ted Wheeler was tear-gassed.
The investigations follow public anger over the deployment of federal
border patrol officers to Portland against the wishes of local
officials. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has said it is
sending a similar contingent to Seattle.
Earlier on Thursday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining
order barring federal law enforcement from using force against
journalists and legal observers at the Portland protests. This followed
a lawsuit filed on behalf of journalists whom federal agents had hit
with non-lethal "impact munitions."
RE-ELECTION BATTLE
Demonstrators and local officials see the deployment of the agents in
Portland as a ploy by Trump to drum up a "law and order" campaign as he
faces an uphill re-election battle.
Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf has said all federal agents have
been making lawful arrests and properly identifying themselves as law
enforcement.
Mayor Wheeler, a Democrat, has called the intervention an abuse of
federal power and said it was escalating the violence.
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Demonstrators take part in a protest against racial inequality and
police violence in Portland, Oregon, U.S., July 24, 2020 in this
picture grab obtained from a social media video. TWITTER GRAVEMORGAN/via
REUTERS
In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said U.S. police and
security forces must not use disproportionate force against
protesters and journalists, or detain them unlawfully.
"It is very important that people are able to protest peacefully,
that people aren't subject to unnecessary, disproportionate or
discriminatory use of force," Liz Throssell, U.N. human rights
spokeswoman, said.
Earlier in the evening a crowd of thousands of Black Lives Matter
supporters gathered in the city center.
"I'm so inspired to see a sea of people who don't look like me who
are saying Black Lives Matter," said Damany Iqwe, referring to the
majority-white crowd.
Iqwe, 43, is a Black man who grew up in Portland and has frequently
attended protests that have continued since the death of George
Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in police custody in Minneapolis on May
25.
"This city is one of the most systematically racist places to live
in as a Black man," Iqwe said.
(Reporting by Deborah Bloom in Portland, Additional reporting by
Rama Venkat in Bengaluru and , Editing by Gerry Doyle and Timothy
Heritage, William Maclean)
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