Destructive protests resume in Portland after federal agents withdraw from city

President Trump’s agreement with Oregon officials to remove federal agents guarding a federal courthouse in Portland against destructive protests has failed to stop the violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.  

On Thursday night, Portland police declared an unlawful assembly outside a precinct and protesters were ordered to leave, after acknowledging concerns about the crowd intending to vandalize and burn the precinct, according to the Associated Press.

The destructive demonstrations and clashes outside the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse temporarily stopped after an agreement between Democratic Gov. Kate Brown and the Department of Homeland Security that called for agents to start leaving the city's downtown on July 30.

However, they have resumed nightly in other parts of the city. 

Portland police, local sheriff's deputies and state police troopers are now on the frontlines in the clashes with demonstrators demanding an end to police funding, following the May 25 death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police. 

"You are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder," Mayor Ted Wheeler said Thursday at a news conference with Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell.