Demonstrators in Portland, Oregon have broken into the lobby of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s apartment building and staged a sit-in protest, according to photos and videos posted on Twitter.
The videos show activists entering the building and promptly re-arranging furniture in the entryway for a sit-in despite objections from private security guards at the complex. According to the protesters, they are demanding that the mayor "resign, abolish the police by 2022 with no tech or private replacement, and allots [sic] saved resources to BIPOC communities and city services".
— Shawnasaurus Rex (@ShawnG927) August 29, 2020
Protesters also gathered outside the building, dancing and chanting slogans.
— Garrison Davis (Teargas Proof) (@hungrybowtie) August 29, 2020
On 28 August, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler posted a letter to Trump on Twitter, saying that he had again declined Trump's offer to send the National Guard to the city.
Wheeler accused Trump of politicising the unrest in Portland and sowing division in the country.
— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) August 28, 2020
The US president has repeated several times that he is ready to deploy far more US National Guard soldiers to the states of Wisconsin and Oregon if needed to restore order amid the unrest in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. The presidential offer has been denounced by Portland's authorities, despite the continued unrest.
Blake, 29, was shot in the back by police in front of his children last week in the Wisconsin city of Kenosha while he was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two women. Blake's father said the man had been shot seven times, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.
The incident ignited a new wave of protests against police brutality and racial discrimination in the United States, which initially started after the death of another African-American man, George Floyd, in police custody on 25 May. The city of Portland has witnessed nightly protests for the last three months.
