Portland has become the focal point of Black Lives Matter and anti-police protests, with demonstrations held every night for more than three monthsA cloud of acrid black smoke climbed into the moonlit sky above a stolen restaurant table burning in a crowded residential street. On the 96th consecutive night of social justice protests in Portland, a city that prides itself on its tolerance for dissent, about 200 people had gathered to call for the resignation of the mayor. They shot fireworks up the front of his apartment block, banged drums, sounded klaxons and chanted obscenities. Many of them were equipped with helmets, homemade shields or body armour and ready for another confrontation with police. A few minutes later some of the protesters broke into a dental practice on the ground floor of the mayor’s building, ransacked it and set new fires inside a shop, prompting police to

Source: The Times September 03, 2020 16:08 UTC