Sunday marked 80th night of protests in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN/CNN) – Protests continued in Portland over the weekend. Sunday was the 80th consecutive night of protests in the city following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis this past May. This weekend’s demonstrations included counter-protesters.

E-bike store owner Gregg Wakefield kicked off his weekend by dousing fires set by demonstrators in North Portland Friday. “It burned tonight and there is some plastic burning so we do have a pretty thick acrid smoke going on right now,” Wakefield explained. He said the smoke was toxic and was concerned about the health of the protesters and the neighborhood-

However, Wakefield said, in the big picture, sometimes it’s necessary for change. “It’s a very small thing compared to what the African American communities have gone through and I fully support Black Lives Matter,” he explained. “It’s hard to see destruction, but it’s hard to have any kind of change.”

On Saturday, shots rang out following a protest with members of Patriot Prayer and Blue Lives Matter supporters and a counter-protest with BLM protesters. Nobody was injured by bullets, but people did suffer injuries from getting pepper-sprayed and hit in the face by what witnesses describe as paintball or pepper ball guns carried by the Back the Blue crowd.

Saturday night, a crowd of hundreds marched from Laurelhurst Park to the Penumbra Kelly Building. After 11:00, people started shooting off fireworks that landed near police and cars in the parking lot.

Police said two officers were injured after people started throwing large rocks, frozen eggs, and bottles. Police declared a riot and began clearing people out.

Activist hip hop artist Itchy Trigga said, “You got a lot of people involved in this protest now, so a lot of protesters have scattered out and are trying to do their own agenda.”

For his part, Itchy Trigga has been involved in peaceful protests regularly near the Justice Center. He said his focus is to promote peace while still getting demands met for justice and equality. “Just more continuous protesting against justice and trying to bring the human race together as a people. My agenda is that. People were separated a long time ago and brainwashed and my purpose out here is to try to bring the human race together.”

Portland has been the site of some of the most consistent protest activity since the death of George Floyd in May.