Protests accompanied by riots have not stopped in Portland for about two months.
Since early July, federal law enforcement officials have received more than 270 different injuries and injuries at the hands of rioters in the American city of Portland, Oregon. Ken Cucinelli, Acting Undersecretary of Homeland Security, said at a hearing on Tuesday at the U.S. Senate Legal Committee.
“Since July 4 this year, there have been more than 270 injuries among federal law enforcement personnel [that they sustained] at the hands of violent anarchists obsessed with assault and destruction. These rioters have attacked federal property, federal security forces, local law enforcement personnel and facilities using hammers, lasers, baseball bats, firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, chemicals, and other munitions”, – said Cucinelli in his written opening statement to the hearing, distributed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press office. Later in the hearing, he said a total of about 140 law enforcement officers have been injured in Portland in the past six months.
Cuccinelli also said there was a difference between protesters and rioters. “The ISI did not have to expand its presence in Portland because of peaceful protesters. <…> In more than 60 days, the situation in Portland has become nothing more than a continuous night-time riot, with life-threatening violence against federal law enforcement and the institutions they diligently protect”, – added the Acting Deputy Chief of the ISI, stressing that “baseless demands for federal law enforcement to leave Portland, if they were accepted, would undoubtedly lead to the destruction of the [federal court building].
He stressed that the ISI-controlled security forces in Portland are trained in all necessary techniques and also have the necessary identification marks. “They have the appropriate uniforms with the appropriate insignia, which include the inscription ‘police’ as well as the name of the structure in which they operate. <…> In order to address concerns about uniforms similar to those of some Customs and Border Protection officers, <…> we are quickly taking steps to replace them”, – Cucinelli said.
At the same time, he noted that representatives of the federal law enforcement agencies sometimes use cars that have no insignia. According to him, this is a common practice in law enforcement agencies, applied for security reasons.
“It is common practice to use cars without identification marks to avoid unnecessary potential attacks by criminals <…>. Brutal extremists across the country deliberately attacked police cars with identification marks, trying to set them on fire, including while law enforcement was inside”, – Cucinelli explained.