PORTLAND, Ore. — Protesters outside a Portland police union building set fires and used a mortar to launch commercial-grade fireworks at police on Sunday night, and officials said Monday that two officers had been injured and 16 demonstrators arrested.
A day after demonstrators managed to get inside the union building and set a fire, the protesters on Sunday night blocked a road and set dumpster fires outside the building, police said in a statement.
The fireworks were launched at police as they tried to clear out the demonstrators. One of the two officers treated at the scene suffered a burn on her neck.
The demonstrators who were arrested face misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct or interfering with a peace officer. Their detentions came after nine protesters were arrested Saturday night and 24 Friday night.
Sunday night’s demonstration came after protesters marched to the building from a nearby park. As police moved to break up the gathering, the fireworks were launched at officers, police said.
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The department released photos of the officers’ injuries, including a photo of a face covering that the statement described as being “partially melted” from the fireworks.
The protests in Portland have happened nightly for 70 days since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis.
The violence reached an apex last month when protesters targeted a federal courthouse that was defended by federal agents who lobbed tear gas at the attacking demonstrators in two straight weeks of nightly confrontations.
The federal agents withdrew more than a week ago amid hopes for calm, but the violent protests have resurfaced miles from the courthouse.
Three officers were injured in a protest Saturday night, including two who were treated at a hospital and released. And on Friday night, demonstrators defied orders to disperse and hurled rocks, frozen or hard-boiled eggs, and fireworks at officers.
Some filled pool noodles with nails and put them on the road, causing extensive damage to a patrol vehicle, police said.
While violent, the gatherings over the past week have been much smaller than the events in front of the federal courthouse. Those drew thousands who turned out nightly to protest the presence of the U.S. agents, who were sent by the Trump administration to protect the downtown building.
Attorney General William Barr on Sunday evening lashed out at Democrats and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Speaking to Fox News host Mark Levin, Barr said liberals are intent on “tearing down the system” and called protesters’ tactics “fascistic.”
“They are a revolutionary group that is interested in some form of socialism, communism,” Barr said of Black Lives Matter. “They’re essentially Bolsheviks.”
President Donald Trump has also regularly expressed his disapproval of Black Lives Matter, accusing one of its members of “treason” and calling the Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower in New York “a symbol of hate.” Barr has also previously criticized the protests, which have been ongoing throughout the country since Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in May, and the attorney general ordered law enforcement authorities to use force to clear a largely peaceful crowd outside the White House on June 1.
On Sunday, Barr accused Black Lives Matter of being an anti-government operation that has been co-opted by violent antifa members. Barr argued that the group is part of a coordinated effort to push Trump out of office.
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press and by Jaclyn Peiser of The Washington Post.