(Headline USA) Domestic terrorists in Portland, Oregon, defied police orders to disperse and threw rocks, frozen or hard-boiled eggs and commercial-grade fireworks at officers as unrest in the Northwest city continued early Saturday.
An Oregon State Police Trooper was struck in the head by a large rock and suffered a head injury, police said in a release.
The trooper’s condition was not immediately known.
Some terrorists filled pool noodles with nails and placed them in the road, causing extensive damage to a patrol vehicle, police said. Oregon State Police worked with Portland officers to clear the protesters.
“Officers are having rocks and chunks of concrete thrown at them,” police said on Twitter. “Individuals in the crowd are shining lasers trying to blind officers.”
Terrorists have nightly flooded the streets for 70 days.
Portland police declared an unlawful assembly Friday night at the Penumbra Kelly public safety building, ordering everyone in the area to leave. Authorities had previously warned people not to trespass on the property.
The terrorists remained for several hours before officers began to rush the crowd away from the building using crowd-control munitions early Saturday. Several people were arrested, police said.
“As arrests were made, certain crowd members began throwing rocks towards officers,” police said in a statement. “As this criminal activity occurred, the crowd also blocked all lanes of traffic on East Burnside Street, not allowing vehicles to pass by. Several people in this group wore helmets and gas masks as well as carried shields.”
Police said Saturday that they arrested 24 people during the overnight violence.
Most of those arrested were from Portland, while one man was from Oakland, California, and another was Tulsa, Oklahoma. Most were in their 20s or 30s.
The charges included assault on an officer, interfering with an officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Most of the crowd left the area by about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.
Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler said this week the violent protesters are also serving as political “props” for President Donald Trump in a divisive election season where the president is hammering on a law-and-order message.
Trump has said the terrorists are “sick and dangerous anarchists” running wild in the city’s streets.
The chaos that started Thursday night lasted into Friday morning in a residential neighborhood about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from downtown.
Early Friday, a group of terrorists gathered at a park in eastern Portland and marched to the local police precinct, where authorities say they spray-painted the building, popped the tires of police cars, splashed paint on the walls, vandalized security cameras and set a fire in a barrel outside the building.
One officer was severely injured by a rock, police said, but no additional details were provided.
Portland police have arrested more than 400 people during these violent attacks since late May. U.S. agents arrested at least an additional 94 people during protests at the federal courthouse in July.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.
