A violent confrontation erupted outside a Portland ICE facility, resulting in injuries as ‘Antifa’ demonstrators collided with conservative activists.
This incident, occurring in the early hours of Saturday, marks the latest flare-up in the ongoing tensions within the Oregon city.
In response to the chaos, ICE agents resorted to using rubber bullets and smoke grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
The tumult involved masked individuals dressed in black clashing with conservative activists, one of whom was visibly adorned with a Make America Great Again flag.
Among those reporting assaults were a female army veteran and Cam Higby, a civilian journalist.
Meanwhile, President Trump has appealed to a federal judge to lift a restraining order, potentially paving the way for deploying the National Guard to Portland.
Footage of the violence Saturday showed an argument break out between a man in a vest, and two of the masked individuals.
After some back and forth, a person wearing a MAGA flag pulled an umbrella out of the hands of one of the persons wearing a mask.
The person in black quickly retaliated by punching the person which prompted a mass pile-on followed by frenzied yelling.
The incident unfolded in the early hours of Saturday morning according to footage shared on social media
The person in black quickly retaliates by punching the person, causing a brawl to break out
Some of the conservative activists who had gathered shouted ‘f*** Antifa’, as the scuffle broke out.
ICE agents standing guard on the roof of the facility then rained rubber bullets down on them.
The groups started to disperse, with two men then also fighting each other as they did.
One person was heard saying: ‘I’ll get a butter knife on you, I’ll stick a butter knife right in you’, as the crowds moved down the street.
Police in Portland said they had set up crowd management units on the ground on Friday night.
A statement said: ‘PPB members did not observe any person or property crimes that warranted interdiction.
No arrests were made. To date, the total number of arrests related to nightly protests in the South Waterfront is 55.’
When contacted about the brawls that broke out, a spokesperson for the department told the Daily Mail that nobody was arrested.
ICE agents standing on the roof of the facility fired rubber bullets down on the crowd, causing the brawl to disperse
Police said they had stationed crowd control measures outside the facility on Friday night
The facility in the Democratic led city has become flashpoint for anti ICE protests with an encampment springing up nearby.
Earlier this week Donald Trump took command of the state National Guard as he seeks to deploy troops into the city.
The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the president as they passed down the ruling.
They cited the violence seen outside the facility as a justification for implementing the early 20th century statute that allows the president to take command of the Guard.
The judges noted in their unsigned order that the protesters, ‘attempted to burn the building down, placed chains on the doors, attempted to breach the front door of the building and broke the front glass door.’
Protesters also threw ‘rocks, sticks and a mortar and launched M80 fireworks at federal officers, assaulted federal officers, shined lasers at officers’ eyes and doxed federal officers,’ the judges wrote.
Clashes between federal agents and protesters outside of the facility have become violent in recent weeks
Trump secured command of the Oregon National Guard earlier this week, as he pushes to send troops to Portland
Their decision now puts on hold a lower-court ruling that prohibited Trump from calling up the troops so he could send them to Portland.
Trump’s administration has said the troops are needed to protect federal property from protesters and that having to send extra Department of Homeland Security agents to help guard the property meant they were not enforcing immigration laws elsewhere.
Oregon officials, meanwhile, have argued that Portland police have handled the protests and crowd control outside of the ICE facility appropriately, and have said that demonstrators who break the law are regularly arrested.
The small nightly protests, limited to a single block, have been ongoing since June.
At times, larger crowds including counter-protesters and live streamers, have shown up and federal agents have had to deploy tear gas to disperse the crowds.
On Friday the Trump administration petitioned against a restraining order which prevents the National Guard from being deployed.
Officials argued before Judge Karin Immergut that a higher court has already cleared a path for deployment.
Immergut is expected to make her ruling on Monday.
