Gov. Wheeler Warns Protesters They Might Re-Elect Trump If They Keep Trying To Murder Cops

Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler told demonstrators they were helping President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign during a news conference Thursday night after another night of protests in Portland, Oregon, the Associated Press reported.

Protests on Thursday targeted a police precinct, where demonstrators allegedly disabled security cameras, broke windows, removed boards used to barricade the doors, stared fires and shined lasers at officers’ eyes, the AP reported. A number of civilian employees and 20 officers were inside the precinct, Portland Police Captain Tony Passadore said, the AP reported.

“When you commit arson with an accelerant in an attempt to burn down a building that is occupied by people who you have intentionally trapped inside, you are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder,” Wheeler said of the attacks on the police precinct, according to the local Fox affiliate.

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Portland police declared an unlawful assembly and told protesters to leave immediately, the AP reported. Officers reportedly ran at protesters to disperse the crowd and allegedly used crowd control agents such as smoke canisters, while protesters used rebar ties to damage vehicles.

“Don’t think for a moment that if you are participating in this activity, you are not being a prop for the reelection campaign of Donald Trump — because you absolutely are,” Wheeler said Thursday, the AP reported. “If you don’t want to be part of that, then don’t show up.”

Wednesday and Thursday’s protests were announced on social media by the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front, a self-described “decentralized network of autonomous youth collectives dedicated to direct action towards total liberation,” the AP reported.

Roads around the precinct were closed Friday morning, the AP reported. “Any persons including members of the press who violate this order will be subject to arrest,” the Portland Police Department tweeted.

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“I want to thank the thousands of you who have come out to oppose the Trump administration’s occupation of this city,” Wheeler told protesters before the crowd was tear-gassed on July 23, the AP reported. “The reason this is important is it is not just happening in Portland … we’re on the front line here in Portland.”

That night, federal agents outside the federal courthouse deployed tear gas and stun grenades as crowd control measures before declaring the protest a riot, the AP reported.