Protests

A few hundred demonstrators gathered in Peninsula Park for the 68th straight night of protests in Portland. The evening was punctuated by brief chaos.

There’s a new sheriff in town when it comes to protecting the federal courthouse in downtown Portland.

Portland protests reached another turning point Thursday, as demonstrators gathered for the first time in three weeks without the presence of federal law enforcement.

Portland Police began clearing Lownsdale Square and Chapman Square in downtown Portland Thursday morning as part of a deal with the Trump administration to remove federal officers from the city's downtown core.

The AP found that 95% of those arrested by police and federal agents were local. The vast majority have no criminal record in Oregon. Many appear to be college students. Their average age was 28, court records show.

The Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to refer a measure to the November ballot asking Portlanders to overhaul police oversight in the city. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty led the charge for a ballot measure that would reshape how discipline and misconduct claims are handled.

Attorney General William Barr is defending the aggressive federal law enforcement response to civil unrest in America, saying “violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests” sparked by George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police

Several dozen additional federal law enforcement officers are deploying to Portland while federal officials are internally acknowledging they have contributed to the quick escalation between law enforcement and groups of protesters. 

Federal officers have arrested or detained 60 people on or near federal courthouse property in Portland since early July.

Donavan La Bella, the 26-year-old protester who a U.S. Marshal shot and severely injured on July 11, is slowly recovering and due to be released from in-patient rehab this weekend, according to his mother, Desiree La Bella.