PORTLAND, Ore. — Police say three officers were injured and eight protesters arrested during a Monday night demonstration in downtown Portland against police shootings.
The eight were arrested for investigation of disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and riot. Police said today that an investigation may lead to further arrests of people accused of assaulting officers.
A crowd of about 200 people marched through the streets, protesting the shooting deaths of Jack Collins this month and Aaron Campbell in January. During the protest windows were broken at a Bank of America branch.
Separately, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was in town Monday criticizing the shootings as “symptoms of a deeper problem of insensitivity and detachment.”
On Jan. 29, Officer Ron Frashour shot and killed unarmed man Aaron Campbell in an apartment building parking lot in a situation that started out as a welfare check.
The U.S. Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Campbell, 25.
On March 22, Officer Jason Walters shot and killed Jack Dale Collins, a 58-year-old homeless man who reportedly was causing a disturbance in Hoyt Arboretum. The officer said he fired when Collins came at him with a knife and refused to drop the weapon.
Jackson said the lack of resources available to homeless people is an “an embarrassment to the church and to the state.
“The homeless people must have shelter and mental health and help and care. We’re too blessed to have that many homeless people,” the veteran civil rights leader said.
A grand jury is expected to consider the Collins’ shooting later this week.
During a visit in February, Jackson called Campbell’s death an “execution” and criticized a Multnomah County grand jury’s decision to clear Frashour of any wrongdoing. Jackson’s latest visit was planned before the Collins’ shooting.
A police spokeswoman said the Police Bureau didn’t have a response to Jackson’s comments.
During Monday evening’s protest, police used bicycle officers and officers on horseback in an effort to keep the marchers on sidewalks as they followed a route past the federal courthouse, the justice center and the federal building.
At one point, a window was broken in a Bank of America office.
The protest was the latest of several recent demonstrations in reaction to the police shootings.
Monday’s event was promoted by the Cascadia Convergence Network, which called online for a protest march to mark the second-month anniversary of the Campbell shooting.
A group known as the Black Bloc also had posted plans for Monday’s protest, advising members how to split up and evade police detection by bringing a change of clothing.
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