1 killed as Trump supporters, protesters clash in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. — One per­son was shot and killed late Sat­ur­day in Port­land, Ore­gon, as a large car­a­van of Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump sup­port­ers and Black Lives Mat­ter pro­test­ers clashed in the streets, police said.

It wasn’t clear if the shoot­ing was linked to fights that broke out as a car­a­van of about 600 vehi­cles was con­front­ed by pro­test­ers in the city’s downtown.

An Asso­ci­at­ed Press free­lance pho­tog­ra­ph­er heard three gun­shots and then observed police medics work­ing on the body of the vic­tim, who appeared to be a white man. The free­lancer said the man was wear­ing a hat bear­ing the insignia of Patri­ot Prayer, a right-wing group whose mem­bers have fre­quent­ly clashed with pro­test­ers in Port­land in the past.

Police did not release any addi­tion­al details and were at the scene inves­ti­gat­ing late Saturday.

“Port­land Police offi­cers heard sounds of gun­fire from the area of South­east 3rd Avenue and South­west Alder Street. They respond­ed and locat­ed a vic­tim with a gun­shot wound to the chest. Med­ical respond­ed and deter­mined that the vic­tim was deceased,” the Port­land Police Bureau said in a statement.

Port­land has been the site of night­ly protests for more than three months since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Many of them end in van­dal­ism and vio­lence, and hun­dreds of demon­stra­tors have been arrest­ed by local and fed­er­al law enforce­ment since late May. The car­a­van arrived down­town just as a protest planned for Sat­ur­day was get­ting under­way. Police made sev­er­al arrests before the shoot­ing and advised res­i­dents to avoid the city core.

The chaot­ic scene came two days after Trump invoked Port­land as a lib­er­al city over­run with vio­lence in a speech at the Repub­li­can Nation­al Con­ven­tion as part of his “law and order” re-elec­tion cam­paign theme. The car­a­van marked the third Sat­ur­day in a row that Trump sup­port­ers have ral­lied in the city.

Trump and oth­er speak­ers at this week’s con­ven­tion evoked a vio­lent, dystopi­an future if Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial hope­ful Joe Biden wins in Novem­ber and point­ed to Port­land as a cau­tion­ary tale for what would be in store for Americans.

The pro-Trump rally’s orga­niz­er, who coor­di­nat­ed a sim­i­lar car­a­van in Boise, Ida­ho, ear­li­er in the week, said in a video post­ed on Twit­ter Sat­ur­day after­noon that atten­dees should only car­ry con­cealed weapons and the route was being kept secret for safe­ty reasons.

The car­a­van had gath­ered ear­li­er in the day at a sub­ur­ban mall and drove as a group to the heart of Port­land. As they arrived in the city, pro­test­ers attempt­ed to stop them by stand­ing in the street and block­ing bridges.

Videos from the scene showed spo­radic fight­ing, as well as Trump sup­port­ers fir­ing paint­ball pel­lets at oppo­nents and using bear spray as counter-pro­test­ers threw things at the Trump caravan.

The shoot­ing hap­pened short­ly before 9 p.m. Pacif­ic, sev­er­al hours after the car­a­van began arriv­ing in Portland.

The Black Lives Mat­ter demon­stra­tions usu­al­ly tar­get police build­ings and fed­er­al build­ings. Some pro­test­ers have called for reduc­tions in police bud­gets while the city’s may­or and some in the Black com­mu­ni­ty have decried the vio­lence, say­ing it’s counterproductive.

Ear­ly Sat­ur­day morn­ing, fires set out­side a police union build­ing that is a fre­quent site for protests prompt­ed police to declare a riot.

An accel­er­ant was used to ignite a mat­tress and oth­er debris that was laid against the door of the Port­land Police Asso­ci­a­tion build­ing, police said in a state­ment. At least one dump­ster had also been set on fire in the street nearby.

The com­mo­tion fol­lowed a sit-in in the lob­by of the Port­land mayor’s con­do­mini­um build­ing Fri­day night.

______

Asso­ci­at­ed Press free­lancer Paula Bron­stein con­tributed to this report.



Tags: design TT Mod­ell­bahn TT H0 N schal­ten mod­elleisen­bahn bahn spiele­max preise 

Ein Reichsmarschall von Adolf Hitler hatte auch Märklin Modelleisenbahn Modelle > read more

Schreibe einen Kommentar