Parts of Portland Oregon look like a “war zone” after a mob of about 200 antifa militants went on a destructive rampage late Thursday night into early Friday morning.
While the police stood by and watched, according to Portland-based journalist Andy Ngo, the antifa rioters tried to set up an “autonomous zone” outside the Portland Police North Precinct using barricades and stolen property.
“They’re occupying the space & trying to recreate another autonomous zone like the one they did outside Ted Wheeler’s condo,” he reported on Twitter. “A separate mob is demonstrating downtown.”
Antifa & BLM rioters have amassed outside the @PortlandPolice North Precinct. They’re vandalizing the property. Here, they spray paint the security camera to cheers and applause from the mob. Police are observing but not responding. pic.twitter.com/JML6wbrWxa
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
Throughout the early morning hours, the agitators started fires, smashed windows, looted and vandalized buildings. Militants also broke into a bank and also set fire to the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct, according to Oregon Live.
After the antifa militants fired mortars and paintballs at officers, resulting in multiple injuries, Portland police finally administered CS gas to disperse them, KATU News reporter Dan McCarthy reported. Only four people were arrested.
The radicals were allowed to do an extensive amount of property damage before they were shut down.
Ngo shared some of the appalling images of the riot on Twitter.
Antifa rioters in north Portland are throwing things into their street fire to make it grow bigger. @PortlandPolice stand back and watch from a distance. Rioters have a huge banner that reads, “Every city, every town, burn the precinct to the ground.” pic.twitter.com/khHrL0gfBj
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
North Portland looks like a war zone right now. Antifa militants tried to establish an autonomous zone outside the @PortlandPolice North Precinct. They then started fires in the street. pic.twitter.com/dDar43Lvl7
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
.@PortlandPolice finally dispersed antifa rioters after a long night and early morning of violence & arson attacks in north Portland. It started with an autonomous zone occupation at the north precinct before devolving into street fires & looting. pic.twitter.com/PTk1tPotjL
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
Businesses in Portland have been massively damaged by violent riots in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, the Portland Business Alliance released a statement claiming that “the downtown area has lost more than $23 million – $4 million from physical damages, and $18 million in lost revenue.”
As Ngo noted on Twitter, it is antifa’s “stated strategy” to harm the economy through violent riots (or “protests” as the corporate media calls them).
Someone sprayed on the broken-into bank: “Protests are effective when they are expensive.”
That has been the stated strategy of antifa in Portland. They’ve maintained 28+ days of violent protests that has drained the city of millions in cleanup and police overtime. pic.twitter.com/9k35Av2OXw
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
A Portland antifa Twitter account taunted Portland PD after it announced on Twitter that a few futile arrests had been made.
https://twitter.com/aelalaeda/status/1276465243024048131?s=20
“This is true,” Ngo responded in a tweet. “Portland antifa have crowdfunded hundreds of thousands to bail out violent rioters & their co-conspirators using @gofundme & other sites. DA not pursuing charges of most. They’ve mastered propaganda & have a cohort of media puppets willing to amplify their lies.”
After the sun came up Friday morning, Ngo surveyed the damage done to the area.
Antifa militants occupied an attempted “autonomous zone” around the @PortlandPolice North Precinct last night. They barricaded off the area with stolen property. They sprayed extremist messages on the building calling for police to be murdered. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/WqCMlJwjCB
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
Overnight, antifa rioters attacked the @PortlandPolice North Precinct, then started large fires in the street. They said they were doing it for the BLM cause. Others looted in the area. It took many hours before police managed to disperse the violent mob of a couple hundred. pic.twitter.com/yTpBUmxuDH
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
Photos of the aftermath of last night’s violent antifa riot & arson attacks at & near the @PortlandPolice North Precinct.
They sprayed graffiti saying, “Protests are effective when they are expensive” and “Capitalism kills.” pic.twitter.com/Qad63paIg1
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2020
The Portland PD released a statement describing the night’s events, saying said in part:
At approximately 1:21 a.m., officers began dispersing the crowd in an effort to move them from the immediate area. While performing this lawful action, demonstrators fought with officers. Furthermore, demonstrators shot officers with paintball rounds, causing officers not to be able to see out of their face shields. Around 1:40 a.m., a mortar was launched on to the roof of North Precinct. During this time, crowd control munitions were deployed.
By 2:14 a.m., demonstrators had set the north side of North Precinct on fire. To protect the life and safety of police personnel and community members inside the precinct, CS gas was used to disperse the crowd. Several demonstrators picked up the canisters of CS gas and threw it at the police.
Around 2:56 a.m., demonstrators began looting and setting fire to businesses in the area. Several business windows were broken and fires were set to property. By 3:30 a.m., a majority of the crowd had dispersed.
For the antifa militants, it was yet another successful and productive night in Portland.
https://twitter.com/aelalaeda/status/1276470591705366529?s=20