Demonstrators gathered at Elizabeth Caruthers Park on the South Waterfront on Wednesday for the 84th consecutive night of protests in Portland.

Before marching to a federal building on Southwest Macadam Avenue, people gathered in the middle of the park and listened to a number of speakers. People who live in the neighborhood milled around the perimeter, watching the crowd gather — above, several windows displayed Black Lives Matter signs.

Around 9:30 p.m., more than 200 protesters marched to march to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building on Southwest Macadam Avenue, where federal officers looked out of the windows as marchers got closer.

Marchers arrived, beating drums and playing guitars, chanting and singing. A dozen or so briefly pounded on the windows. Soon after, a Federal Protective Service announcement warned protesters against damaging the building or setting fires. Failure to comply, the announcement continued, could lead to arrest or crowd-control munitions.

Not long after, protesters spray painted expletives on the building’s windows, pushed traffic cones over security cameras and attempted to break windows.

Protesters spilled into the street and blocked cars attempting to exit Southwest Macadam Avenue.

The summer’s protests took their most violent and destructive turn in July as federal officers regularly clashed with protesters at federal buildings in downtown Portland. Federal officials regularly said they were policing the protests to protect the buildings.

Earlier in the night, before the march to the ICE building, Jamal Williams, a 50-year-old who said he was born and raised in Portland, lectured some in the crowd. He said his group, Portland United for Justice and Equality, had regularly attended protests at the Justice Center in downtown Portland until it got “too violent.”

“There’s a reason I’m only one of two Black people down here. There’s a reason why Black people aren’t down here,” Williams said. “No justice, no peace. And this ain’t peaceful.”

–Jayati Ramakrishnan;

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