A group of about 100 demonstrators broke windows and left graffiti scrawled on downtown Portland buildings Tuesday night at the end of a gathering commemorating the anniversary of a local activist’s death.
Police eventually declared the event an unlawful assembly, according to social media posts from the demonstration, after some people lit fires in the street and set off fireworks.
No arrests have been made and investigations are underway, police said Wednesday afternoon. The damage is believed to be over $500,000, and 35 separate locations were targeted, including banks, retail stores, coffee shops, and government buildings, according to police, who referred to the demonstrators as “anarchists.”
The vandalism, mostly near Southwest Alder Street and Second Avenue, happened at the end of the memorial.
By Wednesday morning, large glass shards from the shattered door of the Moda Tower, 601 S.W. Second Ave., still covered the sidewalk. “Breaking windows is good” was written in spray paint on a wall nearby.
Across the street, there were large holes in the glass windows of Smile Direct Club, 121 S.W. Morrison St., and the front windows, doors and a glass fixture above the entrance of Bank of America nearby were shattered. Crews were sweeping up the glass about 7:30 a.m.
The gathering was called to celebrate the life of Sean Kealiher, a self-identified anarchist and anti-fascist activist who went by the name Armenio Lewis, on the two-year anniversary of his death. Kealiher was killed Oct. 12, 2019, near the now defunct Cider Riot, a popular hangout for Portland’s far-left activist circles.
According to lawyers representing a friend of Kealiher’s who was there that night, the 23-year-old activist got into an argument with a group of strangers after leaving the bar.
After the heated exchange, the strangers piled into a Ford SUV parked nearby and began to drive off. But the SUV pulled a U-turn and hit the gas, slamming into Kealiher, according to the lawyers. It then crashed into the Democratic Party of Oregon headquarters and stalled out on the sidewalk before the driver restarted the vehicle, revved the engine and tried to reverse, the lawyers said.
One of Kealiher’s friends took out a legally concealed handgun and fired at the Ford, according to the lawyers, because he thought the driver was going to back up over Kealiher, who was lying in the street, the lawyers said.
Some of the bullets struck the SUV, according to police.
The driver and passengers spilled out of the vehicle and fled from the scene on foot, according to police, Kealiher was taken to a nearby hospital by his friends, but he died.
No arrests have been made in Kealiher’s death, despite claims from his mother, Laura Kealiher, that police know who the culprits are, published in a recent podcast from Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Laura Kealiher helped promote and advertise Tuesday’s demonstration, billing it on Twitter as “not a peaceful event” and “a night of rage and anger.”
The demonstration drew the ire of former state Sen. Avel Gordly and longtime civil rights activist Ron Herndon, who questioned why elected officials have not had a “strong united voice” opposing “this mayhem.”
“City, county and state leaders allowed criminal behavior to go unchecked for too long,” Gordly and Herndon said in a statement. “And, now the perpetrators think the streets and city belong to them. Let us Portlanders one and all stand together and support the call from People for Portland for more officers and public safety supports to make our city safe. Anarchists shall not be allowed to rule or take over this city!”
People for Portland is an anonymously funded effort pushing local elected leaders for action on police reform, homelessness and other issues.
--The Oregonian/OregonLive