Even in lockdown, New Year’s Eve can be a festive occasion. Just ask antifa in Portland. They ushered in the new year with a riot, complete with firebombs and “commercial-grade fireworks” that they lovingly aimed at police officers.
Getting in the holiday mood, the Portland police declared a riot after antifa started attacking the federal courthouse. There was much merriment in the streets as police fought off the firebombs and fireworks while launching their own assault.
The rioters can’t say they weren’t warned.
Police began using pepper spray or mace against the crowd, as well as what appeared to be rubber bullets or pepper balls, KOIN reported.
Some videos shown on social media showed police officers advancing against the crowd.
The genesis of the riot was familiar — almost as if the rioters and police were following a script.
It began around 9 p.m. when a group of protesters gathered in downtown Portland near the police headquarters before marching through the streets and breaking a window at Starbucks at SW 2nd and Main.
The group then marched back to SW 3rd and began shooting off fireworks. By 10:15 p.m, bottles were littered around the entrance to PPB, plus graffiti on the doors and on several other buildings as well. The group banged on crosswalk signs on SW 3rd Avenue.
About 10 minutes later they began shooting fireworks at the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse building. A crosswalk sign appeared to be one of several fires spotted around 10:40 p.m. as people banged on the Justice Center.
At this point the police began to move in, and order was somewhat restored.
The night before, about a dozen businesses were vandalized including Portland City Hall, Oregon Historical Society, TriMet, and the Portland Police Bureau.
Around 7 p.m., a group of approximately 40 people marched out of Director Park and through various streets, doing damage along the way, police said. That included breaking windows, spray painting buildings and the firing of paintballs. A police officer tried to contact one of the people, but their police vehicle was then spray painted, police said.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is still ongoing.
“No arrests”? I guess that means no one did anything wrong. Breaking windows, setting fires, spray painting walls — don’t all law-abiding citizens do these things?
I’m glad to see that antifa was enjoying themselves on New Year’s Eve. I didn’t think the humorless twits could enjoy anything, so maybe there’s hope for them yet.
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