PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — When a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd in May, it set off a wave of protests about police brutality and social justice across the country.
Portland’s huge peaceful demonstrations and smaller violent clashes drew national attention, lasting more than 100 consecutive nights and continuing sporadically until the end of the year.
Few events have been recorded, photographed, and live streamed as much as Portland’s protests and riots this year. Here are just a few dozen images chronicling the months of unrest.
Hundreds of people gathered at Peninsula Park in North Portland in a vigil for George Floyd, May 29, 2020. (KOIN) Protesters broke into the Justice Center, Pioneer Place Mall and set fires in downtown Portland after a vigil for George Floyd, May 29, 2020 (KOIN) Thousands of protesters are seen crossing the Burnside Bridge in downtown Portland, May 31, 2020 (KOIN) The Portland Police Bureau permitted media to film from behind the fence that lines the Justice Center. June 6, 2020 (KOIN) Black Lives Matter protester speaking at a Rose City Justice rally at Jefferson High School in North Portland ahead of a march to Alberta Park on June 14, 2020 (KOIN) An art display of huge wings with the names of people killed by police stands outside Revolution Hall where nightly Black Lives Matter marches kick-off. The artist estimates it took 16 or so hours to create. June 15, 2020 (KOIN) Protesters march on I-405 toward the Fremont Bridge, June 16, 2020 (KOIN) Demonstrators blocked off the streets near Mayor Ted Wheeler’s Pearl District condo in an attempt to establish the “Patrick Kimmons Autonomous Zone” on June 17, 2020 (Hannah Ray Lambert) A federal officer fires crowd control munitions at Black Lives Matter protesters at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on Friday, July 24, 2020, in Portland, Ore. Since federal officers arrived in downtown Portland in early July, violent protests have largely been limited to a two block radius from the courthouse. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Protesters set a fire that severely damaged the Elk Statue on Main Street in downtown Portland. Officials removed the statue for public safety reasons, July 2, 2020 (PPB) Aerial fireworks set off outside the Justice Center. July 4, 2020 (KOIN) Pioneer Family statue set on fire in the early hours of Sunday morning. July 5, 2020 (KOIN) A Navy veteran named Chris David (backpack sweatshirt) is beaten and peppers-sprayed by federal officers in downtown Portland, July 18, 2020 (Screen grabs from tweet by Zane Sparling of the Portland Tribune) PORTLAND, OREGON – JULY 25: Federal Police clash with protesters in front of the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in downtown Portland as the city experiences another night of unrest on July 25, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. For over 55 straight nights, protesters in downtown Portland have faced off in often violent clashes with the Portland Police Bureau and, more recently, federal officers. The demonstrations began to honor the life of George Floyd and other black Americans killed by law enforcement and have intensified as the Trump administration called in the federal officers. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) FILE – In this July 27, 2020, file photo, a bloodied demonstrator is arrested by federal police during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Ore. The cities of Oakland and Portland, Oregon sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, alleging that the agencies are overstepping constitutional limits in their use of federal law enforcement officers to tamp down on protests. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters hold their phones aloft on Monday, July 20, 2020, in Portland, Ore. Federal officers’ actions at protests in Oregon’s largest city, hailed by President Donald Trump but done without local consent, are raising the prospect of a constitutional crisis — one that could escalate as weeks of demonstrations find renewed focus in clashes with camouflaged, unidentified agents outside Portland’s U.S. courthouse. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler reacts after being exposed to tear gas fired by federal officers while attending a protest against police brutality and racial injustice in front of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse on July 22, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. State and city elected officials have called for the federal officers to leave Portland as clashes between protesters and federal police continue to escalate. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) A new, skeletal elk statue appeared in early August 2020 at the former site of the iconic Thompson Elk statue between Chapman and Lownsdale squares in downtown Portland (KOIN) A pickup plowed through fencing erected by protesters across North Lombard Street and pushes a motorcycle, Aug. 4, 2020. (KOIN) Protesters start a fire at the Portland Police Bureau’s East Precinct during the 69th straight night of demonstrations in the city, Aug. 5, 2020. (KOIN) A woman who stood in the way of protesters splaying paint on the PPB’s East Precinct is wrapped in police tape by a protester, Aug. 6, 2020. (KOIN) A fire burns in an overturned dumpster on N Lombard Street outside the Portland Police Association on the 73rd night of demonstrations. August 9, 2020 (KOIN) PORTLAND, OR – AUGUST 15 : The Proud Boys, an alt-right group, faces off against Black Lives Matters protesters using mace and a paint ball gun on August 15, 2020 in downtown Portland, Oregon. Demonstrations have occurred on almost a nightly basis in Portland since the killing of George Floyd. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images ) A person hurls a rock through a window at the Multnomah Building at SE Hawthorne and Grand in Portland, August 18, 2020 (KOIN) A protester uses a bullhorn to make a point during a ‘patriot’ rally in downtown Portland, August 22, 2020 (KOIN) A man is treated after being shot Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, in Portland, Ore. It wasn’t clear if the fatal shooting late Saturday was linked to fights that broke out as a caravan of about 600 vehicles was confronted by counterdemonstrators in the city’s downtown. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein) PORTLAND, OR – AUGUST 29: Portland police hold back a man who was with the victim of a fatal shooting as he reacts in minutes after the incident on August 29, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Far left counter-protesters and pro-Trump supporters clashed Saturday afternoon as a parade of cars carrying right wing supporters made their way from nearby Clackamas to Portland. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) A small memorial to Portland, Oregon fatal shooting victim Aaron J. Danielson, 39, of Portland is shown on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, at the site where he was killed on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, as supporters of President Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed. Danielson was a supporter of the right-wing Patriot Prayer group but few details have emerged about what led up to the shooting. No suspects have been arrested. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)
In September, wildfires and poor air quality ended the streak of nightly demonstrations. Once the smoke cleared, unrest continued, but more sporadically.
Demonstrators targeted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), police buildings, statues, businesses, cemeteries and more. They also turned their efforts toward trying to stop the eviction of a family from the Red House on North Mississippi Ave.
PORTLAND, OR – SEPTEMBER 18: Protesters use umbrellas to block less lethal rounds fired by federal officers during a dispersal at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on September 18, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Protests against police brutality and racial injustice resumed Friday, after activists called for a pause in response to hazardous air quality from nearby wildfire smoke. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) A man carries a “less-lethal” ammunition gun at a Proud Boys and other similar groups a rally at Delta Park in Portland, Oregon on September 26, 2020. – Far-right group “Proud Boys” members gather in Portland to show support to US president Donald Trump and to condemn violence that have been occurring for more than three months during “Black Lives Matter” and “Antifa” protests. (Photo by Maranie R. STAAB / AFP) (Photo by MARANIE R. STAAB/AFP via Getty Images) PORTLAND, OR – OCTOBER 11: A Portland police officer orders protesters to cross the street during an Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage protest on October 11, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Protesters tore down statues of two U.S. presidents and broke windows out of downtown businesses Sunday night before police intervened. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) PORTLAND, OR – OCTOBER 11: A protester stands over a toppled statue of President Theadore Rosevelt during an Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage protest on October 11, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Protesters tore down statues of two U.S. presidents and broke windows out of downtown businesses Sunday night before police intervened. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) People knocked over a statue of President Abraham Lincoln in downtown Portland on Oct. 11, 2020. Someone spray painted the words “Stolen Land” on the base (KOIN). A group of protesters toppled statues of former presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in Portland’s South Park Block late Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP) Tear gas clouds fill the streets outside the ICE building in Portland as protesters clash with federal officers. Oct. 28, 2020. Shattered windows at Wildfang in downtown Portland, Nov. 4, 2020. (KOIN) Oregon National Guard vehicles patrol downtown Portland after a riot was declared, Nov. 4, 2020. (KOIN) A Black Lives Matter protester chants slogans on Wednesday early morning, Nov. 4, 2020, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein) Protesters vandalized the Multnomah County Democrats office in Northeast Portland, November 8, 2020 (PPB) Smashed windows at a New Seasons Market on November 26, 2020 in Southeast Portland (PPB). A statue atop a memorial for the Mexican-American War was toppled the night before Thanksgiving in Southeast Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery, Nov. 26, 2020. (KOIN) PORTLAND, OR – DECEMBER 09: Protesters build defensive structures around the Red House on Mississippi on December 9, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Police and protesters clashed during an attempted eviction Tuesday, leading protesters to establish a barricade around the Red House. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) Some of the signs hung up against the barricades (Photo: KOIN) An aerial view of the Red House on N. Mississippi and the barricades surrounding it, December 10, 2020 (KOIN)