A broken window at a Pearl District business that was vandalized during a demonstration on Saturday, February 27, 2021.
Sergio Olmos
More than 100 people marched through Portland’s Pearl District for over two hours Saturday night, with some demonstrators vandalizing businesses in the area.
Some businesses had boarded up windows in anticipation of vandalism. Demonstrators gathered at The Fields Park in Northwest Portland around 9 p.m. to protest immigration policy under the Biden administration before marching through the Pearl District, according to posts on social media.
Demonstrators broke windows and sprayed graffiti, vandalizing several businesses in the area including Chipotle, Starbucks, Umpqua Bank and others.
Some businesses in the pearl district anticipated tonight’s protest and boarded up their windows, but some did not pic.twitter.com/UoTKSjVwvb
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) February 28, 2021
As protesters chanted for police to “go home”, nearby residents in high rise buildings responded, calling for demonstrators to “go home.”
Portland Police said its officer response to the evening’s events had been constrained by multiple shooting incidents happening across the city simultaneously. Police said early Sunday morning that two people had been charged in connection to the Pearl District destruction but more arrests were expected.