The police said that this was the fourth incident of vandalism of the City Commissioner’s house in a week.
A few dozen aggressive people organized a pogrom last night and set fire to the house of Dan Ryan, a city councilman and city commissioner in the American city of Portland, Oregon. This was reported on Friday by the local police department.
An agitated crowd, according to the police, first gathered in the city park and then purposefully, ignoring police warnings, headed to the Commissioner’s house, blocking the traffic as they passed. Upon arrival at the house, the gathered broke a window and threw burning torches and spray cans of paint inside the building, and then started destroying plants planted near the house. Only then did the police take active action and dispersal the crowd.
The authorities are currently investigating “this extremely alarming manifestation of criminal activity that has put the entire neighbourhood in danger”. At the same time, the police have noted that this is the fourth incident of vandalism against the Commissioner’s house in a week. The police department did not specify why the house of the City Council member was not taken into custody during such repeated acts of aggression.
The detainees have not yet been reported. Nor have the organisers of the arson, which was soon eliminated by the city’s fire service, been identified.