Protests Erupt Around U.S. In Response To Rittenhouse Verdict; Some Turn Violent

Cities across the U.S. erupted in protests Friday night after the jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial found him not guilty on all counts.

Police in Portland, Oregon, declared a riot around 9:00 p.m. local time after protests became violent. The protesters had been on site for some time, according to KOIN 6, when they began to smash windows and doors of city facilities, and tear down fencing and construction signs to use as street barricades. They had begun “tampering with” a roll-up gate at the city’s Justice Center when local police and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office declared the riot. A police officer’s car had its windows smashed, trash and debris fires were started, and there was chatter about the group planning to burn down the Justice Center, home to the Portland Police Bureau, a county jail, and a court facility.

The protesters were confronted by police after encroaching on the Justice Center and approaching the jail. The crowd became “hostile,” and began throwing “urine, alcoholic beverages, water bottles and batteries,” a spokesman for the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department said. Eventually, deputies were able to push the protesters back and close the gate again. One person was given a citation and another was arrested. Five cars associated with the groups were also pulled over, and police gave out five tickets and 17 warnings. The crowd had largely dispersed by 11 p.m.

In New York City, at least five people were arrested and some property was damaged in Queens, according to the New York Post. Protesters were seen in Crowley Park, and the Middle Village and Maspeth neighborhoods. A group of approximately 300 protesters gathered outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn before marching across the Brooklyn bridge into Manhattan, then dispersing.

Robert Holden, a borough councilman from Queens, told the Post that after going through Crowley Park, the protesters were seen “jumping on cars and stealing American flags” on residential streets in the neighborhoods. Holden blamed the violence on the reaction to the verdict by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Twitter, saying that his tweets “added gasoline to the fire.”

He further told the Post that he texted the mayor, saying, “Thousands of families mind[ing] their own business are in danger tonight because of your reckless reaction to the trial verdict.”

The NYPD tweeted a photo of two vandalized cars in Queens, including a car with handicap plates that had been graffitied with “f*** you” in black

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