New demonstrations in Portland

SANAA, July 20 (YPA) – Demonstrations continued in Portland last night over differences between local and federal authorities over how to deal with the situation.

Portland Police, Oregon State Center, confirmed in a statement that crowds of protesters gathered across the city yesterday evening.

A large group of protesters went to a car station in front of a police station in the north of the city.They blocked the surrounding roads, set fire to police cars, broke their bottles, insulted officers and tried to break into the centre.

About an hour later, police asked the protesters to leave, but they headed west and arrived at the Portland Police Association headquarters, where they stormed the building and closed the street in front of it with garbage containers that were later set on fire.

The protesters eventually stormed the building and infiltrated it and quickly set it on fire, the statement said, noting that many of them were armed with sticks and shields.

The statement confirmed that the police forces, upon arrival at the scene, declared riots and dispersed the protesters, arrested a number of them and then managed to extinguish the fire.

The statement stressed that police did not use CS tear gas against protesters, although photographs from the scene confirmed that security forces were using some kind of gas there.

E.M