Stainless steel security doors installed at Portland US Courthouse

PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — The next time political protests break out in front of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland, demonstrators could be facing a massive stainless-steel wall that protects the building and its occupants from anything that can be hurled at it.

Work is nearing completion on seven large, hinged barricades that can be dropped down in front of the west side entrance to the building that faces Southwest Third Avenue and Lownsdale Square. That is where large groups of protesters repeatedly gathered during months of social justice protests that followed the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by Minneapolis police in March 2020. Projectiles ranged from rocks to ball bearing fired from large slingshots to industrial-grade fireworks.

The protests went on for months, damaging Portland’s national reputation for livability. Although many of the confrontations were fueled by the Trump Administration’s decision to send additional federal forces to Portland to defend the building, funding for the current security upgrade was sought by and approved during the Biden Administration. As first reported by the Oregonian/OregonLive last September, Congress approved $112.5 million to support upgrades to “harden” about 100 to 150 federal courthouses “against individuals or groups seeking to breach court facilities and disrupt the judicial process” for fiscal year 2023.

The barriers are like hinged airplane hangar doors with shielded upper view screens. The estimated cost of the local upgrade was estimated at $4.5 million, including renovations to the main west entry and to employee entrances on the north and side sides of the building.

“These measures are a first step toward hardening facilities and can be implemented relatively quickly when compared with more significant measures to redesign and renovate entrances, perimeter spaces, and interior public spaces, which will take more funding and longer to complete,” a report by the U.S. Courts’ administrative office said of the program.