Portland Fines Feds With Maximum of $500 for Every 15 Minutes Fence Remains Outside Courthouse

Lorenz Duchamps
By Lorenz Duchamps
July 29, 2020US News
share
Portland Fines Feds With Maximum of $500 for Every 15 Minutes Fence Remains Outside Courthouse
Demonstrators try to topple a steel fence during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Ore., on July 25, 2020, (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

The federal government will be fined for a maximum amount of $500 for every 15 minutes it maintains a fence around the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, which protesters have attempted to breach during nightly ongoing riots, officials in Portland said.

“As of yesterday, the federal government owes us $192,000 and counting,” City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who oversees the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), said in a statement on Tuesday. She added that the city intends to collect.

The fence was initially erected around the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse last week to try to de-escalate tensions between rioters and federal agents as they launched projectiles and made attempts to breach and set fire to the courthouse.

The PBOT “filed a cease-and-desist letter” last week demanding that the federal government remove the “unauthorized fence,” according to the statement. Commissioner Eudaly said the fence is obstructing the city streets.

Eudaly said she is “committed to doing everything in [her] power to end this federal occupation and move forward with the reckoning of our community with racial injustice and our efforts. To transform our approach to surveillance and public safety.”

Democratic city and state leaders, including Eudaly, accuse federal agents of escalating violence in the city. But according to video evidence and officials, the officers and agents appear to be reacting to criminal actions by rioters, including damaging federal property and assaulting law enforcement.

federal-officers-5
Federal law enforcement officers block off a street after clearing rioters from outside the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in Portland, Ore., on July 27, 2020. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

Federal officials previously announced no response is necessary if crowds stay away from the courthouse and the new fencing, which violent demonstrators have repeatedly set fire to and attempted to damage before the barrier was erected; recently they’ve focused their energy on pulling the fence down with saws, ropes, chains, hammers, and other tools.

On Monday, a crowd of several hundred people blocked streets around the courthouse, a common occurrence, and spent hours yelling, chanting, banging on the fence, and throwing objects at the building. Just before midnight, rioters started launching mortar-style fireworks and some began climbing over the fence. Others used umbrellas and shields to cover a person trying to cut through it.

Eudaly said in her statement that only a few protesters have shown violence and these few actions should not negate the rights of others to exercise their freedom of speech and to peacefully assemble.

“The response of law enforcement should be proportional to the infractions. Indiscriminately tear-gassing and firing impact munitions at thousands of peaceful protesters is not a proportionate response,” Eudaly said.

Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said at the press conference earlier this month that the department fully supports and will protect those who wish to peacefully protest in Portland, but what officers are seeing every night “is the complete opposite.”

The unrest in Portland follows a daily pattern, according to Deputy Director of the Federal Protective Service (FPS) Richard Cline. From roughly 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., peaceful protesters assemble and demonstrate. After midnight, violence organized by agitators breaks out. The federal response to the violence has as a result been wrongly described as targeting peaceful protests, he said.

Portland-riot--6
Federal officers walk out in formation to launch tear gas at demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Ore., on July 26, 2020. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)
Portland Protests
People gather to protest in front of the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in downtown Portland as the city experiences another night of unrest in Portland, Ore., on July 27, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“What is occurring in Portland in the early hours of every morning is not peaceful protesting, these individuals are organized and they have one mission in mind: to burn down or to cause extreme damage to the federal courthouse and to law enforcement officers,” Wolf said.

“We see them planning their attacks, and yet the city of Portland takes little to no action to stop or disperse this crowd,” he continued. “These individuals carry lasers, baseball bats, explosive fireworks, metal pipes, glass bottles, accelerants, and other weapons all targeting federal facilities and federal law enforcement.”

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) has demanded the resignation of Wolf, stating that “any person who oversees the kidnapping of protesters and the violent occupation of American cities has no place in our government,” pointing to the acting secretary.

Eudaly added that the city will be closely monitoring state and federal action and provide support wherever they can. She also said that normally the city “would send a maintenance crew or contractor” to remove an obstruction like the fence, “but I will not send workers into harm’s way,” she added.

Epoch Times reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

From The Epoch Times

ntd newsletter icon
Sign up for NTD Daily
What you need to know, summarized in one email.
Stay informed with accurate news you can trust.
By registering for the newsletter, you agree to the Privacy Policy.
Comments