Rioters in Portland took to the streets late Monday, shattering windows at a range of businesses and establishments including a Boys and Girls Club.
A group of people dressed in “black bloc” clothing—garb often worn by members of the far-left anarcho-communist Antifa network—gathered after 8 p.m. in Woodlawn Park, the Portland Police Bureau said. The group swelled to upwards of 80 people before they began marching, with others piloting vehicles just behind the marchers, to the bureau’s North Precinct.
Along the way, the crowd smashed windows at a Popeye’s location and a U.S. Bank location.
Officers ordered the rioters to disperse at approximately 9:50 p.m. After the dispersal, rioters broke windows at the the Boys and Girls Club located near the precinct.
“People in this crowd are destroying windows at a local community center that serves children,” the bureau said in a tweet.
A Natural Grocers was also damaged during the rampage.
The group eventually dispersed. Two arrests were made for criminal mischief; one of those taken into custody was also charged with rioting.
Because of the riot and an unrelated shooting near the precinct, officers shifted the police response across the city to emergency calls only “to increase the likelihood that officers would be able to respond to life safety emergency calls for service,” the bureau said in a statement.
A poster for the violent demonstration was put out by radicals. It used language favored by Antifa, such as “no streamers,” referring to an order not to livestream video from the march. It also said, “wear bloc, be water,” which means wear all-black clothes with a mask or other face covering obscuring details that can be used to identify criminals, and to be flexible when engaging with police.
Portland is a hotbed for Antifa. Oregon’s largest city has seen ongoing riots since the spring of 2020.
The riot followed the fatal police shooting of Robert Douglas Delgado, 46, who was “quick drawing” and holding what appeared to a witness to be a handgun in a park on Friday.
Officers shot Delgado and later determined he was holding a replica handgun, not a real one.
Police have not yet said what transpired in the moments before he was shot by officer Zachary DeLong, who was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
