One shot dead in Portland, Oregon, as protesters clash
Video report by ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore
One person has been shot dead in Oregon as Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrators and counter-protesters clashed.
BLM protesters were demonstrating in Portland in the wake of the police shooting of 29-year-old black man Jacob Blake in Wisconsin last Sunday.
Mr Blake's family said the father-of-three had been left paralysed.
Portland has seen frequent protests in recent weeks against police brutality and racism, triggered by the police killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
It was not clear if the shooting was linked to fights that broke out as a caravan of about 600 vehicles was confronted by protesters in the city’s downtown, authorities said.
In Kenosha, the city in which Mr Blake was shot by a police officer, a crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside a courthouse on Saturday to protest.
The crowd chanted “seven bullets, seven days” — a reference to the number of times Mr Blake was shot last Sunday.
The continued protests come as President Donald Trump prepares to visit the troubled city.
He will visit Kenosha on Tuesday to meet with law enforcement and survey damage from recent demonstrations that turned violent, White House spokeperson Judd Deere told reporters travelling with the president on Saturday night.
On the killing in Portland, police said: “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 caravan of Mr Trump’s supporters had gathered earlier in the day at a nearby mall and drove as a group to the heart of Portland.
As they arrived in the city, protesters attempted to stop them by standing in the street and blocking bridges.
Videos from the scene showed sporadic fighting, as well as the president’s supporters firing paintball pellets at opponents and using bear spray (a form of pepper spray) as counter-protesters threw things at the caravan.
Protesters have marched in Kenosha every night since Mr Blake’s shooting, with some protests devolving into unrest with damage to buildings and vehicles.
On Tuesday, two people were killed by an armed civilian.
The commander of the National Guard said on Friday that more than 1,000 Guard members had been deployed to help keep the peace, with more on the way.
Earlier in Kenosha, Mr Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr, gave an impassioned call for changing a system he described as fostering police brutality and racial inequities.
US Correspondent Robert Moore reports on the violent protests:
“There were seven bullets put in my son’s back. Hell yeah, I’m mad,” Mr Blake Sr said.
“What gave (the police) the right to attempted murder on my child?
"What gave them the right to think that my son was an animal?
"What gave them the right to take something that was not theirs? I’m tired of this.”
Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey and two other officers were responding to a domestic abuse call last Sunday when Mr Sheskey shot Mr Blake in the back.
Mr Blake Sr told reporters on Saturday that his son is heavily sedated, but has regained consciousness.
“He’s in a lot of pain,” he said.
“I just wish I could pick my baby up and make it all right.”
He called for Mr Sheskey to be charged and for the other two officers at the scene to be fired.
Several of Saturday’s speakers encouraged the crowd to vote for change in November, and to push for changing legislation in Wisconsin that would lead to police reform.
One of Mr Blake’s sisters, Letetra Widman, said she felt recharged “to stand up not just for Jacob, but for all the people who have not gotten justice".
Captured on cellphone video, the shooting sparked new protests against racial injustice and police brutality months after George Floyd’s death touched off a wider reckoning on race.
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