乔治·弗洛伊德五月去世后，波特兰警察局长伊斯兰大教堂·瑞斯发表了一份声明，她希望这能有助于掩盖真相不断加剧的紧张局势在她所在的城市，她谴责明尼阿波利斯警方遭遇的致命袭击是“违背我们保护和服务的基本职责。”
在发表声明两个月后，瑞斯奇不再是最高警察，他在6月份辞职，由一名黑人警察中尉取代，俄勒冈州最大的城市已经成为全国的主要城市抗议的爆发点以及与执法人员的暴力冲突。
波特兰不仅是持续抗议运动的集结地，对某些人来说，它也已经成为一个象征，就像西雅图的国会山有组织抗议区(简称CHOP)之前一样，是自由城市失控、被犯罪和无法无天所包围的象征。
人们在街上的形象、燃烧的火焰以及与执法部门的冲突已经成为一些圈子里的壁纸，特朗普政府抓住这一点作为介入的理由，就像总统在芝加哥和其他地方威胁要做的那样。
一些示威者说法宝美国部署联邦特工伪装和他们的侵略策略，包括使用催泪瓦斯和铲起示威者在无标记的货车，助长了动荡，并加强了一些抗议者采取更激进立场的决心。
无论如何，波特兰出现了分歧，一方是希望和平抗议警察暴行并呼吁警察改革的人，另一方是希望煽动混乱和暴力的人。尽管其他城市，如纽约，在弗洛伊德死后发生了大规模抗议、袭击警察、抢劫和破坏行为，但波特兰没能稳定局势。
俄勒冈州州长凯特·布朗说，联邦官员“充当了占领军的角色，带来了暴力。”
周四，特朗普在推特上回应称，布朗“没有尽到自己的职责。”
特朗普在推特上说:“她必须清除，在某些情况下，逮捕波特兰的无政府主义者和煽动者。”“如果她做不到，联邦政府会为她做的。我们不会离开，直到有安全!”
俄勒冈州州长凯特·布朗没有尽到自己的职责。她必须清除，在某些情况下，逮捕波特兰的无政府主义者和煽动者。如果她做不到，联邦政府会为她做。在没有安全之前，我们不会离开!
——唐纳德·特朗普2020年7月30日
以下是我们对波特兰情况的了解:
与联邦特工的对峙
周三晚上，波特兰连续第62天发生示威活动，抗议者再次与守卫马克·哈特菲尔德美国法院的联邦特工发生冲突，该法院已成为民众骚乱的焦点。晚上11点左右，联邦防暴警察向试图突破法院周围围栏的抗议者发射了催泪瓦斯和眩晕手榴弹，此前警察警告他们要散开。僵局持续到周四早上，逮捕了几个人。
冲突发生的几个小时前，民主党人布朗在推特上宣布，她已经和副总统迈克·彭斯谈过了，并且达成了一项协议，如果当地官员能够保证联邦建筑得到保护，联邦特工就可以撤离该市——这是海关和边境保护局以及联邦保护局派出特工的主要原因。
但是国土安全部代理部长查德·沃尔夫在给布朗和其他地方官员的警告中说，联邦特工将继续留在该市，直到州警和波特兰警方清楚地处理了暴力事件。
包括司法部长威廉·巴尔在内的联邦官员为特工的存在和策略进行了辩护，称他们是防止“对联邦法院的暴力攻击”蔓延所必需的
布朗同意如果联邦特工离开，就在波特兰部署州警，州警将在周四下午接管这些任务。据俄勒冈现场报道。
沃尔夫说:“在我们的设施和执法机构仍然受到攻击的情况下，我们不会撤除任何执法机构。”
撤回联邦特工的行动是否有助于减少波特兰的暴力仍不确定。
抗议方式的分歧
最近几天，随着故意破坏、袭击警察和在街上纵火的事件增加，抗议者已经分裂成两部分，一部分人一心想要破坏，另一部分人认为，黑人生命物质运动的和平行动正被示威者和煽动者淹没，他们将暴力作为实现其目标的手段。
周二晚上，当一名身穿防暴服的白人抗议者在一条街道中央点燃了一场大火时，波特兰的街道上出现了哲学的差异。一名黑人生命问题抗议者在美国广播公司新闻中自称为纳吉，他跑过去扑灭了视频中的一场大火。
穿着全套防暴装备的白人抗议者回应道:“再次点火!”沮丧的纳吉大声回应，试图解释煽动暴力和破坏正在从BLM的信息中消失。
白人抗议者回应道:“他们烧毁了明尼阿波利斯的一座警察大楼，并拆除了警察局的引信。”
波特兰全国有色人种协进会会长E.D. Mondaine上周在《华盛顿邮报》的一篇评论文章中写道，自从弗洛伊德于5月25日去世以来，波特兰的示威活动每天都在继续，“许多有自己议程的人都在拉拢我们，分散我们的注意力，而这正是我们应该关注的中心问题:黑人生命问题运动。”
Mondaine写道:“不幸的是，‘奇观’现在是描述波特兰抗议的最好方式。”“破坏政府建筑和向执法部门投掷炮弹引起了人们的注意——但是这些行为如何阻止警察杀害黑人呢?”
蒙达因说，即使是所谓的“妈妈之墙”(Wall of Moms)，也可能会损害BLM运动的整体目标。这是一群大多是白人女性的群体，她们在波特兰举行大规模集会，抗议警察的暴行，并在抗议者和联邦特工之间形成了一个手臂对手臂的屏障。
“这可能会减轻白人富裕女性的良知，她们此前在黑人压迫面前一直保持沉默，但公平地问一句:她们真的在推进正义事业，还是这是白人选择的又一个例子?”蒙丹恩写道。
但是有两个孩子的母亲贝芙·巴纳姆说，她在脸书上组织“妈妈之墙”是出于母亲的本能，而不是出于政治目的。
“一旦你成为一个母亲，你就会有所触动。巴纳姆在接受美国广播公司《早安美国》采访时说:“这是最原始的。”“不管是不是你的孩子，你都要帮助他们。如果你看到一个孩子溺水，你会跳进水里。
她说:“我为我们感到骄傲。”“我们不是在扔砖头。我们没有扔水瓶。我们没有暴力。”
州长拒绝召集国民警卫队
波特兰的黑人人口仅占总人口的6%，就在三天前爆发了暴力抗议，视频显示，一名白人警察在弗洛伊德的脖子后面挖他的膝盖，他反复喊着“我不能呼吸了”，并喊着他死去的母亲，随后昏迷不醒，随后在医院里死去。
5月28日在波特兰为弗洛伊德举行的守夜活动发生了破坏性的转变，一个小团体从抗议游行中分裂出来，闯入一个青少年拘留中心并放火焚烧。包括一家苹果商店在内的几家企业遭到抢劫，这促使警方宣布了一场骚乱。
第二天，波特兰市长泰德·惠勒宣布进入紧急状态，并宣布全市晚上8点实行宵禁。但是随着宵禁的第一个晚上的临近，更多的企业被洗劫一空，大火被点燃。警方使用了催泪瓦斯，最终逮捕了51名行为不检的人。
惠勒和俄勒冈州最高联邦检察官，美国律师比利·威廉姆斯，在6月1日要求布朗州长将俄勒冈州国民警卫队部署到波特兰。当时，同样是民主党人的惠勒说，“我们需要帮助，我们需要更多的人来阻止这种毫无意义的暴力。”
但是布朗拒绝派遣国民警卫队，尽管威廉姆斯告诉她有“有组织的努力”意图制造混乱。
在一片混乱中，当时的警察局长瑞斯(Resch)在当地活动人士批评她指挥人员全是白人后几天就辞职了。今年6月，她被查克·洛弗尔(Chuck Lovell)所取代，后者是一名经验丰富的黑人中尉，瑞斯认为他是“在恰当的时间出现在恰当的地点的恰当人选。”
在洛弗尔成为局长的第二天，一名美国地方法官在代表两名抗议者提起的诉讼中发布了临时限制令，禁止警察使用催泪瓦斯，除非有生命危险。一个多星期后，波特兰市议会投票决定从警察局预算中削减2700万美元。
尽管警察部门和市政官员承诺进行改革，但抗议活动继续变得暴力和具有破坏性。
6月30日在波特兰警察协会总部举行的抗议游行演变成暴力事件，据称示威者向警察投掷石块和其他物品，警察宣布发生骚乱，并使用催泪瓦斯驱散人群，尽管联邦法官下令，除非生命受到威胁，否则禁止使用催泪瓦斯。
在7月4日的周末，特朗普和国土安全部启动了快速部署小组，以保护全国各城市的联邦纪念碑。总统后来扩大了联邦特工的角色，称他“别无选择”，只能将联邦执法“激增”到美国城市，以打击暴力犯罪。
海军兽医被打败了
在波特兰的一次冲突中，53岁的海军老兵克里斯托弗·大卫在7月18日的一次事件中被一名联邦特工用警棍殴打，该事件被手机视频捕捉到并迅速传播开来。大卫在接受美国广播公司采访时表示，在观看了一段视频后，他来到了马克·奥·哈特菲尔德的美国法院，希望能与联邦探员交谈。视频中的男子身穿作训服，身上没有任何徽章，他“在波特兰街头绑架市民，然后把他们塞进没有标记的货车里。”
“这让我震惊。这完全令人震惊。我真不敢相信这真的发生了。”“我想问他们，为什么他们不再遵守他们的就职誓言，为什么他们不再遵守宪法，因为他们所做的是公然违反宪法的。”
大卫在被殴打时穿着海军学院的运动衫，戴着海军球帽，但他并没有以一个关心此事的老兵的身份出现，而是说他们把他视为“一个目标。”
“如果他们要给怀孕的妈妈们注射毒气，他们会痛打一个老兽医。对他们来说没关系，”大卫说，他在事故中手受伤了。“我对他们来说不是人。我只是一个抗议者。我不像他们。我不是一个真正的人。”
在对美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中，美国法警服务称，大卫“对副美国法警构成了威胁”，因为他不服从命令，试图进入法庭。
美国执法官在声明中说:“根据事件发生时的情况，代表们认为使用武力是必要的，以保护自己和他人免受人身伤害。”
就连波特兰市长惠勒也不能幸免于联邦特工的侵略策略。在7月23日法院外的抗议活动中，惠勒是被联邦官员用催泪瓦斯驱散的抗议者之一。
“我想感谢成千上万站出来反对特朗普政府占领这座城市的人，”在使用催泪瓦斯之前，惠勒对人群说。“这很重要的原因是它不仅仅发生在波特兰...我们在波特兰站在第一线。”
抗议者和联邦特工之间的暴力冲突在上周末升级，促使波特兰警方在周日早上再次宣布骚乱，抗议者突破了联邦法院周围的加固围栏。守卫大楼的联邦特工对示威者使用了催泪瓦斯，官员称示威者向特工投掷了炮弹和烟花。
安德烈·米勒(Andre Miller)是一名黑人生命问题抗议者，他在7月21日的示威中被催泪弹击中头部。周三晚上，他在波特兰的一次集会上向抗议者发表讲话，随后联邦特工再次使用催泪弹驱散人群。米勒头上缠着绷带，他强调要把注意力放回黑人生命物质运动上。
米勒说:“我希望你们所有人，以确保黑色生命的物质是你的第一要务。”“这只是开始。”
How Portland became nation's hotbed for clashes between protesters and federal agents
In the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's death in May, Portland Police Chief Jami Resch issued a statement she had hoped would help keep a lid onrising tensionsin her city by condemning the fatal police encounter in Minneapolis as running "contrary to our fundamental duty to protect and serve."
Two months after making the statement, Resch is no longer the top cop, having resigned in June and replaced by a Black police lieutenant, and Oregon's largest city has become the nation's majorflashpoint for protestsand violent clashes with law enforcement officers.
In addition to being a rallying point for a continued protest movement, Portland has also become for some a symbol, as Seattle's Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone (or CHOP, for short) was before it, of liberal cities out of control, besieged by crime and lawlessness.
The images of people in the streets, fires burning and clashes with law enforcement have become wallpaper in some circles and were seized on by the Trump administration as a reason to step in, as the president has threatened to do in Chicago and elsewhere.
Some demonstrators sayTrump's deployment of federal agents in camouflage and their aggressive tactics, including the use of tear gas and scooping up protesters in unmarked vans, has fueled the unrest and bolstered the resolve of some protesters to take a more militant stance.
In any event, a divide has emerged in Portland between those who are looking to peacefully protest police brutality and call for police reform and those looking to foment chaos and violence. And whereas other cities, such as New York, which saw large protests, attacks on police officers, looting and vandalism in the wake of Floyd's death, have managed to stabilize the situation, Portland has not.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the federal officers have "acted as an occupying force [and] brought violence."
In a response on Thursday, Trump tweeted that Brown "isn’t doing her job."
"She must clear out, and in some cases arrest, the Anarchists & Agitators in Portland," Trump said in his tweet. "If she can’t do it, the Federal Government will do it for her. We will not be leaving until there is safety!"
Kate Brown, Governor of Oregon, isn’t doing her job. She must clear out, and in some cases arrest, the Anarchists & Agitators in Portland. If she can’t do it, the Federal Government will do it for her. We will not be leaving until there is safety!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)July 30, 2020
Here's what we know about the situation in Portland:
Standoff with federal agents
On Wednesday night, the 62nd consecutive day of demonstrations in Portland, protesters clashed once again with federal agents guarding the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, which has become a focal point of the civil unrest. Around 11 p.m., federal agents in riot gear fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters attempting to breach a fence around the courthouse after agents warned them to disperse. Several arrests were made as the standoff continued into Thursday morning.
The clashes came hours after Brown, a Democrat, announced on Twitter that she had spoken with Vice President Mike Pence and an agreement to withdrawal federal agents from the city was struck provided that local officials could assure that federal buildings would be protected -- the primary reason agents from Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protective Service were dispatched.
But in a warning to Brown and other local officials, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said federal agents would remain in the city until it is clear that state troopers and Portland police have gotten a handle on the violence.
Federal officials, including Attorney General William Barr, have defended the presence and tactics of the agents saying they were needed to prevent the spread of "violent attacks on federal courts."
Brown agreed to deploy state troopers to Portland if federal agents would move out, and troopers were set to take over those duties Thursday afternoon,according to Oregon Live.
"We are not removing any law enforcement while our facilities and law enforcement remain under attack," Wolf said.
Whether the move to withdraw federal agents will help de-escalate violence in Portland still remains uncertain.
Split in approach to protest
In recent days as vandalism, attacks on police and fires ignited in the streets have increased, protesters have become split between those bent on destruction and those who believe the peaceful actions of the Black Lives Matter movement are being drowned out by demonstrators and agitators pushing violence as a means to achieving their goals.
On Tuesday night, the difference in philosophy played out in the streets of Portland when a white protester dressed in riot gear set a sizable fire in the middle of a street. A Black Lives Matter protester, who identified himself to ABC News as Najee, ran over and put the blaze out in an incident caught on video.
The white protester in full riot gear responded by yelling, “light the fire again!” A frustrated Najee yelled back, trying to explain that inciting violence and destruction was taking away from the BLM message.
The white protester responded, “they burned down one police building in Minneapolis and they defunded the police department.”
E.D. Mondaine, president of the Portland NAACP branch, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post last week that as the demonstrations have continued daily in Portland since Floyd's death on May 25, "many people with their own agendas are co-opting, and distracting attention from, what should be our central concern: the Black Lives Matter movement."
"Unfortunately, 'spectacle' is now the best way to describe Portland’s protests," Mondaine wrote. "Vandalizing government buildings and hurling projectiles at law enforcement draw attention -- but how do these actions stop police from killing black people?"
Mondaine said even the so-called Wall of Moms, a group of mostly white women who have turned out in large numbers in Portland to protest police brutality and form an arm-to-arm barrier between the protesters and the federal agents, could be hurting the overall goal of the BLM movement.
"This might ease the consciences of white, affluent women who have previously been silent in the face of Black oppression, but it’s fair to ask: Are they really furthering the cause of justice, or is this another example of white co-optation?" Mondaine wrote.
But Bev Barnum, a mother of two teenagers, said she was motivated to organize the "Wall of Moms" on Facebook out of motherly instinct, not a political agenda.
"As soon as you become a mom, something is triggered in you. It’s primal," Barnum said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." "It doesn’t matter if it’s your kid or not, you’re going to help them. If you see a kid drowning, you’re going to jump into the water.
"I’m proud of us," she said. "We’re not throwing bricks. We’re not throwing water bottles. We’re not being violent."
Governor rejects call for national guard
Portland, where Blacks comprise just 6% of the population, erupted in violent protests just three days after video surfaced of a white police officer digging his knee into the back of Floyd's neck as he repeatedly yelled "I can't breathe" and called out for his dead mother before falling unconscious and later dying in a hospital.
A May 28 vigil for Floyd in Portland took a destructive turn when a small group splintered off from a protest march, broke into a juvenile detention center and set it on fire. Several businesses, including an Apple Store, were looted, prompting police to declare a riot.
The following day, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency and announced a citywide 8 p.m. curfew. But as the first night of the curfew approached, more businesses were looted and fires were set. Police deployed tear gas and ended up arresting 51 people for disorderly conduct.
Wheeler and Oregon's top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Billy Williams, asked Gov. Brown on June 1 to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland. At the time, Wheeler, also a Democrat, said, "We need help, we need more bodies to stop this senseless violence."
But Brown refused to send the National Guard despite Williams informing her that there were "organized efforts" intent on creating chaos.
Amidst the turmoil, Resch, the police chief at the time, resigned just days after local activists criticized her for having an all-white command staff. She was replaced in June by Chuck Lovell, a Black veteran lieutenant of the police department whom Resch endorsed as "the exact right person at the exact right moment."
A day after Lovell became chief, a U.S. District judge issued a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two protesters, barring police from using tear gas unless lives were in danger. A little over a week later, the Portland City Council voted to slash $27 million from the police department's budget.
Despite promises of reform from the police department and city officials, protests continue to grow violent and destructive.
A June 30 protest march on the headquarters of the Portland Police Association devolved into violence when demonstrators allegedly threw rocks and other objects at police, who declared a riot and used tear gas to turn back the crowd despite the federal judge's order, which banned the use of tear gas unless lives were at stake.
Over the July 4 weekend, Trump and the Department of Homeland Security launched rapid deployment teams to protect federal monuments in cities around the country. The president later expanded the role of federal agents, saying he had "no choice" but to "surge" federal law enforcement into American cities to fight violent crime.
Navy vet beaten
During one of the confrontations in Portland, Navy veteran Christopher David, 53, was beaten with a baton by a federal agent in a July 18 incident that was caught on cellphone video that went viral. David told ABC News that he went to the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in hopes of speaking to the federal agents after viewing a video of men in combat fatigues with no insignia "abducting citizens off the streets of Portland and stuffing them into unmarked vans.
"This is shocking to me. It's completely shocking. I can't believe it's happening actually," David said. "I wanted to ask them why they were no longer honoring their oath of office, why they were no longer honoring the constitution because what they were doing is blatantly unconstitutional."
Instead of seeing David, who at the time of the beating was dressed in a Naval Academy sweatshirt and a Navy ball cap, as a concerned veteran, he said they saw him as "a target."
"If they're going to gas pregnant moms, they're going to beat up an old vet. It doesn't matter to them," said David, who suffered a broken hand in the incident. "I wasn't a human being to them. I was just a protester. I wasn't like them. I wasn't a real person."
In a statement to ABC News, the U.S. Marshals Service said David "presented a threat to deputy U.S. Marshals" by failing to obey commands to back up and trying to enter the courthouse grounds.
"Based upon the circumstances at the time incident, the deputies believed that the force used was necessary to protect themselves and others from physical harm," reads the statement from U.S. Marshals.
Even Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, has not been immune to the aggressive tactics of federal agents. During a July 23 protest outside the courthouse, Wheeler was among a crowd of protesters who were tear-gassed by federal officers.
"I want to thank the thousands of you who have come out to oppose the Trump administration's occupation of this city," Wheeler told the crowd moments before tear gas was deployed. "The reason this is important is it is not just happening in Portland ... we're on the front line here in Portland."
The violence between protesters and federal agents escalated last weekend, prompting Portland police to once again declare a riot early Sunday when protesters breached the reinforced fence around the federal courthouse. Federal agents guarding the building deployed tear gas on the demonstrators, who officials alleged hurled projectiles and fireworks at the agents.
Andre Miller, a Black Lives Matter protester who was hit in the head by a tear gas canister during July 21 demonstration, addressed protesters at a rally in Portland on Wednesday night before federal agents deployed tear gas again to disperse the crowd. Miller, with his head bandaged, made a point of putting the focus back on the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I want y’all to make sure that Black Lives Matter is your number one priority,” said Miller. “This is just the beginning.”
