Protests continue as Portlanders await court ruling on Trump’s deployment

Portlanders continued to protest into the night Saturday at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building as they awaited word of an appellate court ruling on whether President Donald Trump can deploy federal troops into the city.

Protesters shouted at ICE through megaphones as others — including some suited up as inflatable dinosaurs or cartoon characters — sang along to Les Misérables, danced to hip-hop or freestyle rapped over a set of speakers propped up in front of the building. A man in Santa Claus attire vigorously rang a cow bell in support of the agency.

OPB monitored multiple live video feeds of the protests throughout the day and night.

As the courts consider the president’s ability to deploy federal troops over the objections of the state, the events in Portland Saturday again did not resemble the “war zone” the president has portrayed.

Both protesters and counter-protest livestreamers on the scene remarked at times that the night seemed relatively peaceful and low-key, including around 10 p.m. in the moments just before federal officers dropped tear gas to clear the building perimeter and began arresting people. Officers dragged multiple protesters off the street and into the ICE facility.

A large group of protesters remained outside the facility after the agents receded into the building and the tear gas dissipated.

Until those crowd-control efforts, there was relatively little of the tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bang grenades that had been used frequently in the days after Trump announced his intention to deploy the National Guard.

Related: Right-wing influencers shape nation and Trump’s understanding of Portland protests

Earlier in the week, a campaign circulated online threatening to target lasers at helicopters to try and ground the ICE air support that has been circling above the city, but well into the night there were no lasers to be seen in the overcast and rainy sky.

The streets appeared clear throughout much of the evening, with cars passing easily even as the protest swelled to more than a hundred people on the sidewalks.

There were a handful of detentions earlier in the evening as federal officers and the Portland Police Bureau sought to control the crowd.

Early in the evening, after a brief confrontation with the crowd, federal officers appeared to arrest two female protesters and take them inside the ICE building.

Portland police said in a press release that they arrested two people over a fight that broke out, and charged them with assault. It’s less clear whether the people arrested by federal law enforcement were charged.

Not long after, as federal agents emerged from behind the gates around 7 p.m. to clear the driveway, two protesters knelt in place instead of backing out of the way with the crowd. A federal agent shoved one of them forcefully backward into a somersault. The other was shoved to the ground and dragged into the ICE building by several federal officers.

Throughout the night, protesters and counter-protesters, including multiple who were livestreaming, argued loudly and accused each other of instigating conflicts, including one conservative streamer claiming he was sucker-punched with a rock.