The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) falsely accused protesters of breaking into the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in downtown Portland during a peaceful protest against police brutality after the murder of George Floyd. The PPB then used this false accusation to justify attacking the protesters with tear gas, flash bang grenades, and rubber bullets. Everything had been peaceful up until that point. This is just the latest example of police brutality against peaceful non-violent civilians across the United States in recent weeks. Attacks have been increasing and escalating ever since the people began fighting back against their already heavy handed tactics.
Before attacking the crowd, The PPB posted the following on their official Twitter page at 10:48 PM:
"Demonstrators have broken windows in the federal courthouse and made entry. PPB Sound Truck is advising them to leave the building immediately. Sound Truck is also advising the crowd to disperse toward the west." Portland Police Bureau on Twitter
That Tweet was followed at 10:51 PM by this:
"To ensure the safety of the staff in the court house, we are using riot control agents on the demonstrators who are setting fires in the court house." Portland Police Bureau on Twitter
As the video below shows, the claims that protesters had broken windows, broken into the courthouse, and were setting fires, were a flat out lies. The Portland Police attacked the crowd for no justifiable reason.
Fortunately, this attack did not stop justice from being served. As the video shows, demonstrators were able to cover the windows, doors, walls, and pretty much any thing else within arms reach with public service announcements (PSAs). "A public service announcement is a message in the public interest disseminated without charge, with the objective of raising awareness of, and changing public attitudes and behavior towards, a social issue." - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service_announcement).