Portland Police declare unlawful assembly after protesters gather at east precinct
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Police declared a protest outside their east precinct building an unlawful assembly on Saturday night.
Just before 10:30 p.m., PPB reported that there were about 70 people protesting outside the building. According to police, people were in the street and blocking traffic.
At one point, some people took two dumpsters from a nearby school and began rolling them toward the precinct. Police say one was pushed near a door at the precinct and another placed near the garage door.
Police declared an unlawful assembly, citing "criminal activity and clear intent to block access to the precinct." Officers quickly moved in to disperse the crowd. Our crews at the scene reported officers worked to push the crowd that was in front of the precinct back and moved the dumpsters that were rolled into the street.
Demonstrators were chanting as they moved out of the area. Police ordered the group to leave to the north and said that those who did not adhere, could face crowd control munitions, arrest or citation.
After police dispersed the group, authorities reported finding one of the dumpsters smoking, but had not caught fire. Police moved the dumpsters into the garage to prevent the crowd from using them again.
Following the unlawful assembly declaration, police reported that some members of the group remained in the area for a while but did not attempt to commit any more crimes, so police disengaged.
No arrests were made and no injuries were reported.
This gathering came on the heels of unrest on Friday. A crowd of about 100 people gathered at Lents Park on Friday afternoon as the Portland Police Bureau investigated a deadly police shooting that occurred in the morning. Later on Friday, police declared a riot in downtown as a group smashed windows at several businesses.