3 years ago
Portland this weekend marks 100 days since protests erupted in the western US city to denounce police brutality and racism, shining a spotlight on a deeply polarized America as it prepares for high-stakes elections.
The nightly protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, escalated sharply in Oregon city after the Trump administration deployed federal agents to protect federal property from damage. Floyd's de...
death triggered similar protests nationwide, but it is in Portland -- a city of 6,50,000 that is more than 70 per cent white -- that activists have remained on the streets practically every night, demanding racial justice and police accountability.
Although the demonstrations toned down after federal agents withdrew at the end of July, tensions escalated again last weekend after a man identified as a supporter of a right-wing group was shot and killed.
Trump has cast the city as being under siege by "thugs" engaged in "domestic terrorism," even though the demonstrations have been peaceful for the most part.
He has also warned that should his Democratic rival Joe Biden win the election in November, cities like Portland will fall into chaos across America. But that's not how activists in Portland see things.
