Turmoil in US cities as police and protesters clash; On Portland’s streets: Anger, fear, and a fence that divides
Protests took a violent turn in several U.S. cities over the weekend, with demonstrators squaring off against federal agents outside a courthouse in Portland and forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house.
- Police in Portland say a bag containing loaded rifle magazines and Molotov cocktails was found at a park near where protests have taken place for two months following the death of George Floyd.
- Police have identified an armed protester who was shot and killed by a person who had driven into a crowd at a demonstration in Austin, Texas. Police said 28-year-old Garrett Foster was fatally shot Saturday at a police brutality protest.
- A protest in Oakland, California, in support of racial justice and police reform turned violent when a small group of demonstrators wearing helmets and goggles set fire to a courthouse, vandalized a police station and shot fireworks at officers.
- A city dump truck was set on fire as protesters faced off with police in Richmond, Virginia, during a demonstration billed as support for protesters in Portland
- Authorities say a protester was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there.
Both Sides of a Fence: On the streets of Portland, the fence protecting the federal courthouse from nightly assault by protesters is a stark dividing line between two radically different world views. The thousands of demonstrators outside the black, wrought-iron fence and the dozens of federal agents hunkered down inside the besieged courthouse traverse the same endless hours of mayhem just feet apart from each other, but their experiences could not be more different.