Shock moment Portland protesters ‘throw white paint on elderly woman and harass another using a walker’
PROTESTERS in Portland threw paint on an elderly woman and apparently harassed another using their walker during demonstrations on Thursday night.
The Oregon city’s police department shared a photo of the paint-drenched woman on Twitter, writing that she “was confronted by the group currently outside East Precinct.”
“Paint was strewn all over her,” police said.
Another older woman, was seen holding a Black Lives Matter sign while using a walker, was seen on video trying to encourage a protester to stop hitting barricades at the precinct.
In another video, someone who appears to be the same woman is seen trying to put out a fire at the site with an extinguisher, as a protester blocks her from the flames.
Cops said an elderly woman using a walker was harassed, but it wasn’t immediately clear if it was the woman seen holding the sign.
Around 200 protesters were gathered at the Portland Police Department’s East Precinct on Thursday night in another night of unrest.
“This call for direct action for ‘round 2’ in East Precinct will not go unanswered,” the department tweeted in response to a call from the Pacific Northwest’s Youth Liberation Front group.
“This announcement means there is intent to engage in violent acts like we saw last night where attempts were made to burn an occupied building and people in vehicles tried to run over officers.
“We believe the intention of the crowd outside East Precinct is to vandalize or attempt to burn down the precinct.
“If you attempt to break in to or burn East Precinct you will be subject to arrest and the use of force to include crowd control munitions.”
An unlawful assembly was declared as protesters threw large rocks, glass bottles, fireworks, and paint, according to police.
Investigators said they arrested multiple people in the area overnight, included someone who had a loaded handgun at the scene.
Police said there were two groups of mostly peaceful protesters who they didn’t interact with.
But a third group, as posted in a call on Twitter, met at the Floyd Light City Park and marched to the East Precinct just before 10pm on Thursday.
According to local news station KGW, a small group of police supporters stood outside the precinct at 9pm.
“I need to make a stand for my neighborhood,” one pro-police man reportedly said. “I’m not here to bust anyone’s head and I’m certainly not down here to get my head busted.”
Just before 10pm, cops declared the assembly outside the precinct unlawful and asked everyone to leave the area.
Around 10.10pm, a fire was set inside of a garbage can outside the precinct.
Around midnight, more than 100 people gathered, and the department said that a police officer was “severly hurt when a large rock was thrown at one of their shoulders.”
By 2.30am on Friday, most of the crowd left the area in Portland.
Earlier on Thursday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler angrily denounced those who attempted to set the police precinct on fire, saying those involved weren’t protesters, but criminals.
“You are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder,” Wheeler said as he stood alongside Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell.
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“Don’t think for a moment that you are if you are participating in this activity, you are not being a prop for the reelection campaign of Donald Trump — because you absolutely are.
“You are creating the B-roll film that will be used in ads nationally to help Donald Trump during this campaign. If you don’t want to be part of that, then don’t show up,” the mayor said.
The city has seen close to 70 consecutive nights of unrest following the death of George Floyd in May.