Portland has night without tear gas as feds withdraw
For the first time in weeks, the city of Portland saw a night without tear gas after state police took over from federal agents guarding a courthouse that has been the focal point of violence between protesters and tactical officers the past few months.
Agents withdrew under a deal between Oregon's governor and U.S. officials to end the deployment, which sparked a clash between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic mayors over the use of federal police in U.S. cities.
TRUMP ON 07/30: "So they're working today and probably tomorrow to clean out this beehive of terrorists and if they do it I'm going to be very happy and then slowly we can start to leave the city. If they don't do it, we'll be sending in the national guard."
A few hundred people demonstrated outside the federal courthouse until around 2 a.m. on Friday, and left of their own accord.
On previous nights they were dispersed by federal agents shooting tear gas and other munitions.
Trump sent federal forces to confront crowds in Portland who had set fires and broke windows at the courthouse since late May, when protests against police violence began after the death of George Floyd.
Democratic mayors said the deployment escalated tensions at largely peaceful anti-racism protests and was political theater for Trump's "law and order" campaign ahead of the November 3rd election.
