Portland pushes back against federal presence

Rioters tore down a fence protecting the U.S. courthouse and set a fire in the building’s entryway early Monday, Portland, Ore., police said. Federal guards extinguished the blaze and scattered the crowd using tear gas. Protests in the city over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have persisted every night for nearly two months.

How have local authorities responded? The Portland Police Bureau said its officers did not engage the protesters who set the fire. State and local officials have blasted the federal government’s involvement. Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler told CNN on Sunday that federal officers were not welcome in the city, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Friday sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for warrantless action in Portland. “We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it,” President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday. “Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators.”

Dig deeper: Read Sophia Lee’s report from Los Angeles on problems with the push to defund the police.