United States: Police respond with projectiles at protesters outside ICE building in Portland

Portland, US: Clashes continued in Portland, Oregon on Friday, with tear gas fired at protesters. Police said they did not have to use tear gas or crowd control munitions on Thursday night. However, Police were seen answering with tear gas.

The gathering, declared unlawful by the police, followed successive nights of the authorities declaring a riot in parts of the northwestern city, including on Wednesday and Thursday around the same Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building. About 100 people blocked traffic, vandalized an immigration building, set fires to dumpsters and threw rocks and glass bottles at police in the Oregon city on Thursday night, police said, adding they had arrested three people.

Demonstrations against racism and police brutality swept the United States after the police killing in May of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. In Portland, protests have erupted occasionally in arson and violence.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr was strongly criticized by Democratic politicians for sending federal officers to Portland to disperse protesters who had lit fires and broken windows at the city's courthouse.On Thursday, Portland police issued a timeline of protests, showcasing they had declared riots 17 times between May 29 and Aug. 19.