A group of black-clad marchers turned violent Saturday night in Portland, Ore., smashing windows and scrawling graffiti on downtown businesses as protests continued to rage across the nation against the US Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Several banks and coffee shops had their windows broken, a van belonging to Portland Public Schools was spray-painted, and a pregnancy resource center was vandalized, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement Sunday.
“If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either,” a flier announcing the march said, according to Oregonlive.
The crowd of about 100 began its rampage around 10 p.m. near Grant Park in the city’s northeast section and continued on its destructive path until protesters left the area around 10:45 p.m., the police said.
The department said officers were unable to respond because of other incidents happening at the same time.
“There was an injury shooting and a stabbing in East Precinct and a felony assault in Central Precinct,” the police department said. “Additionally, a community festival in North Precinct was underway, an impromptu ‘dance party’ drew approximately 1,000 people to Irving Park, and they held a march and blocked traffic. There were also calls about speed racers doing stunts in various parts of Portland.”
The Mother and Child Education Center was vandalized, as well as a Starbucks and a Bank of America, Oregonlive reported.
A black Tesla was damaged, including by being sprayed with red paint, by the protesters, Fox News reported.
“Abolish schools,” was painted on a Portland Scholastic League van.
A storage box was tagged with “abort the court.”
An aide to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called the damage “despicable.
“We need more police,” Sam Adams told Oregonlive.
Portland was the scene of weeks of violence and vandalism after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis cops in May 2020.
During those protests, anti-cop groups set ablaze the city’s police-union headquarters and confronted officers outside the federal courthouse.
GOP Sen. Lindsay Graham on Sunday denounced the violence, calling extremist left-wingers “constitutional anarchists.
“You know, when Roe came out we didn’t burn down the Capitol as conservatives,” Graham told Fox News. “We didn’t go to liberal justices’ homes and try to intimidate them.
“They are literally trying to change the country from top to bottom,” said Graham, a South Carolina Republican, of pro-choice forces. “They want to pack the court because they don’t like this decision. They want to abolish the Electoral College so California and New York can pick the president in perpetuity.”
The Portland unrest comes as tensions rise among extremist groups on both sides, creating what one expert described as a “tinderbox situation.
“On social media platforms we are seeing politically charged calls to violence from the left and the right in response to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision,” said Lisa Kaplan, CEO of tech company Alethea Group, the Washington Post reported.
One extremist left-wing group put out a call to burn down churches, according to the outlet.
“Only black churches should be left standing,” the call to action, seen by the Post, read.
The Department of Homeland Security has warned in a memo that a “network of loosely affiliated suspected violent extremists, known as ‘Jane’s Revenge’ ” were calling for a “summer of rage” over the ruling.
Meanwhile, far-right activist Nicholas Fuentes has called on followers to arm themselves and “defend your churches.”
According to the DHS memo, an extremist group has urged members to “bring rifles and men with you,” calling on “American Patriots” to “defend the faith.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article inaccurately attributed Lisa Kaplan to an anecdote about an extremist left-wing group’s call for violence online. This has been corrected.
