Civil unrest escalates in Portland as federal agents accused of stoking tensions

Video report by ITV News Correspondent Geraint Vincent

US federal agents teargassed the mayor of Portland as he stood outside a courthouse during another night of protests in the city. Donald Trump dispatched Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers to the city in Oregon in a bid to stop crime in the area, but Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, had asked the president to stand down the agents.

Mr Trump said the move is to protect federal property and monuments - he has lambasted efforts by protesters to knock down Confederate statues.

  • Geraint Vincent reports from Portland:

Mayor Wheeler appeared slightly dazed and coughed as he told protesters it was the first time he had been tear gassed.

The protests - like those that swept across the world - began in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Local authorities in Portland have complained that agents have exacerbated tensions on the streets. Residents have accused the government of violating their constitutional rights.

Indeed, civil unrest escalated after federal agents were accused of whisking people away in unmarked cars without probable cause.

  • ITV News hears from protesters on the front line:

Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf denied that federal agents were inflaming the situation in Portland. He told “CBS This Morning” on Thursday that Wheeler legitimized criminality in the city by going to the front of the crowd of demonstrators where the fires were lit and people were trying to pull down the protective fence.

Wolf said Wheeler had cited violence in the city before federal officers arrived.

Wheeler did not participate in lighting any of the fires or attempting to tear down the fence and was surrounded by his security team when he was gassed.

Earlier, protesters held signs saying “Tear Gas Ted” in reference to the Portland Police Bureau’s use of the substance before federal agents arrived. As Wheeler left the protest zone about 12.40 am Thursday, one person shouted that he should be there “every single night.”

Less than an hour after Wheeler left, the Portland Police Bureau declared there was a riot at the site and threatened to use tear gas but officers never did and made no arrests.

In a statement later Thursday, police said the crowd threw Molotov cocktails, lit fires in a park and in trash cans and released hundreds of gallons of water from fire hydrants.

  • ITV News has been witness to the chaotic scenes on the ground:

Before he was tear-gassed, Wheeler was criticised for cutting the local police budget and for not assigning Portland police to protect protesters from federal agents.

Wheeler’s appearance in the protest zone came hours after state attorneys for Oregon urged a judge to issue a restraining order against agents deployed to tamp down on the protests.

The arguments came in a lawsuit filed by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who accused federal agents of arresting protesters without probable cause, whisking them away in unmarked cars and using excessive force. Federal authorities have disputed those allegations.

The lawsuit is part of the growing criticism of Trump’s order that sent the federal agents to Portland and pending orders for them to head to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to fight rising crime.

Trump’s move has deepened the country’s political divide and has potentially set up a constitutional crisis months ahead of the presidential election. Democratic mayors of 15 cities have condemned the use of federal officers in a letter to the U.S. attorney general.