Weekend of violence as protesters square off with police in Portland, Seattle and other major cities across the country
VIOLENT protests rocked the US over the weekend as anti-cop protesters fought running battles with police all over the country.
Several cities saw violence erupt as demonstrators squared up to federal agents outside a courthouse in Portland, Oregon, cops were forced to retreat into a station house in and vehicles were torched in and .
Another person was shot and injured in Aurora Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said.
The unrest Saturday and early Sunday stemmed from the weeks of protests over racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color that flared up after the May 25 death of in Minneapolis.
Handcuffed Floyd, who was black, died after a white police officer used his knee to pin down the victim’s neck for nearly eight minutes while he begged for air.
Manley said the driver called 911 to report the incident and was later taken into custody and released. Police didn’t immediately identify the driver.
The wounded person was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
Police didn’t release many details about the shooting, including whether the person who was shot had been in the car.
Police said on Twitter that demonstrators also caused “major damage” to a courthouse.
Protesters in Oakland, California, set fire to a courthouse, damaged a police station, broke windows, spray-painted graffiti, shot fireworks and pointed lasers at officers after a peaceful demonstration Saturday evening turned to unrest, police said.
In Virginia’s capital, Richmond, a dump truck was torched as several hundred protesters and police faced off late Saturday during a demonstration of support for the protesters in Portland. Police declared it to be an “unlawful assembly” at around 11pm and used what appeared to be tear gas to disperse the group.
Five people were arrested in the incident and charged with unlawful assembly.
A sixth person was also arrested and charged with rioting and assault on a law enforcement officer.
In downtown Atlanta on Sunday, federal agents examined damage to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility where windows were shattered late Saturday. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said in an email. No arrests had been announced.
And in Baltimore, people from a group of nearly 100 demonstrators spray-painted anti-police messages on a Fraternal Order of Police building and adjacent sidewalks on Saturday night, reported.