Are Protesters Becoming Radicalized?

Protests Grow Increasingly Violent in U.S. Cities

Date: 10 August 2020 - 21:41

News ID: ۸۱۶۱۴

PORTLAND, Ore./CHICAGO (AP) -- Protesters outside a Portland police union building set fires and used a mortar to launch commercial grade fireworks at police and officials said Monday that two officers were injured and 16 demonstrators were arrested.
A day after demonstrators managed to get inside the union building and set a fire, the protesters on Sunday night blocked a road and set dumpster fires outside it, police said in a statement.
The fireworks were launched at police as they tried to clear out the demonstrators and one of the two officers treated at the scene suffered a burn on her neck.
The demonstrators who were arrested face misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct or interfering with a peace officer. Their detentions came after nine protesters were arrested Saturday night and 24 Friday night.
Sunday night’s demonstration came after demonstrators marched to the building from a nearby park. As police moved to break up the gathering, the commercial-grade fireworks were thrown at officers, police said.
The department released photos of the officers’ injuries, including a photo of a face covering that the statement described as being "partially melted” from the fireworks.
The protests in Portland have happened nightly for 70 days since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis.
The violence reached an apex when protesters targeted a federal courthouse last month that was defended by federal agents who lobbed tear gas at the attacking demonstrators in two straight weeks of nightly confrontations.
The federal agents withdrew more than a week ago amid hopes for calm, but the violent protests have resurfaced miles from the courthouse.
Three officers were injured in a protest Saturday night, including two who were treated at a hospital and released. And on Friday night, demonstrators defied orders to disperse and hurled rocks, frozen or hard-boiled eggs and commercial-grade fireworks at officers.
Some filled pool noodles with nails and put them on the road, causing extensive damage to a patrol vehicle, police said.

Shots Fired in Chicago Protests

Hundreds of people smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police early Monday in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city’s downtown.
At one point, shots were fired at police and officers returned fire, police spokesman Tom Ahern said on Twitter. No officers were injured in the shooting.
It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the unrest, which began shortly after midnight, but anti-police graffiti was seen in the area. Hours earlier, dozens of people had faced off with police after officers shot and wounded a person Sunday in the city’s Englewood neighborhood, located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.
Along the Magnificent Mile, people were seen going in and out of stores carrying shopping bags full of merchandise as well as at a bank, the Chicago Tribune reported, and as the crowd grew vehicles dropped off more people in the area.
One officer was seen slumped against a building, several arrests were made and a rock was thrown at a police vehicle, the newspaper said. Police worked early Monday to disperse the crowds.
There was a large police presence Monday morning outside an Apple store located north of Chicago’s downtown area. Blocks away, debris was strewn in parking lots.
Train and bus service into downtown was temporarily suspended at the request of public safety officials, the Chicago Transit Authority said on Twitter. Bridges over the Chicago River were lifted, preventing travel to and from the downtown area, and Illinois State Police blocked some expressway ramps into downtown.
Chicago and its suburbs, like many other cities, saw unrest following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Chicago’s central business district and its commercial areas were shut down for several days after violence erupted in the wake of marches protesting Floyd’s death. Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died after a white officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes as Floyd said he couldn’t breathe.
In the Sunday shooting in Englewood, police said in a statement that they responded about 2:30 p.m. Sunday to a call about a person with a gun and tried to confront someone matching his description in an alley. He fled from officers on foot and shot at officers, police said.
Officers returned fire, wounding him, and a gun was recovered, police said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment and three officers involved also were taken to a hospital for observation, the statement said.
More than an hour after the shooting, police and witnesses said a crowd faced off with police after someone reportedly told people that police had shot and wounded a child.