Portland protesters occupied mayor's presumed condo complex

Caroline Linton
·2 min read

About 200 protesters in Portland, Oregon, on Friday night occupied a condo complex believed to be home to Mayor Ted Wheeler. Police declared a riot at another protest after a fire was set at the police union building.

Portland police said several people were arrested at the union building. In a statement, police said the building "has been the site of numerous violent protests over the past few months, and protesters have lit the building on fire several times. It is located in a residential neighborhood and there is concern that any building fire could spread to occupied homes, especially during the current stretch of dry weather."

At least three people locked themselves inside the mayor's supposed condo complex, CBS Portland affiliate KOIN reported. In a statement to KOIN, Wheeler's office said "we are monitoring the situation and hope protesters remain peaceful for the safety of other residents."

Three protesters sit with interlocked arms in the lobby of Mayor Ted Wheeler's apartment building in Portland, Oregon, on August 28, 2020, during an action calling for the police bureau to be defunded.  / Credit: Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA via AP Images
Three protesters sit with interlocked arms in the lobby of Mayor Ted Wheeler's apartment building in Portland, Oregon, on August 28, 2020, during an action calling for the police bureau to be defunded. / Credit: Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA via AP Images

The dual protests marked the 92nd night of demonstrations in Portland, which started after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis and intensified after federal agents were deployed to the city in July. After weeks of violent clashes, federal agents began withdrawing at the end of July.

President Trump praised the actions of the federal agents in Portland, and said they would be deployed to other cities to quell violence. Earlier this week, federal agents were deployed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, after days of protests following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. A 17-year-old has been charged with two counts of homicide after allegedly shooting three people, killing two of them, at protests in Kenosha on Tuesday night.

On Friday, Wheeler tweeted a letter he sent Mr. Trump in which he rejected federal agents being redeployed in Portland. "We don't need your politics of division and demagoguery," Wheeler wrote in the letter.

"When you sent the feds to Portland last month, you made the situation worse," Wheeler wrote. "Your effort to repeat that disaster is a cynical attempt to stoke fear and distract us from the real work of our city."

Mr. Trump has targeted Wheeler on Twitter, posting on Saturday that Kenosha has "been very quiet for the third night in a row or, since the National Guard has shown up."

"That's the way it works, it's all very simple," Mr. Trump wrote. "Portland, with a very ungifted mayor, should request help from the Federal Government. If lives are endangered, we're going in!"

Mr. Trump tweeted something similar Friday, writing "Are you listening Portland" after claiming the National Guard had stopped violence in Kenosha.

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