Trump supporters, protesters clash in Portland; one killed

One person was shot and killed downtown in Portland, as a large caravan of Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed on the streets. Portland has been witnessing a major Black Lives Matter protest since May 2020, triggered by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. A caravan of 600 vehicles had driven into the city, to show their support for President Donald Trump.

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“Portland Police officers heard sounds of gunfire from the area of Southeast 3rd Avenue and Southwest Alder Street. They responded and located a victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. Medical responded and determined that the victim was deceased,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.

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Protesters had set fire to a Portland police union building on Saturday night. It is the 92nd consecutive night of protests in Portland.

The protests on Saturday had also expressed solidarity with the demonstrators in Kenosha, where a Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot seven times by police earlier this week.

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Earlier in June, the Trump administration had deployed federal officers in Portland with the stated purpose to protect the downtown federal courthouse.

The President had referred to the protestors as “agitators” and “anarchists” and had claimed that its philosophy would eventually destroy America. In the recently concluded Republican National Convention, Trump had described Portland as a ‘liberal city overrun with violence’.