[ 2016-11-15 ]

Demonstrators gesture in front of the police during a protest against the election of Donald Trump in Portland, Oregon

Anti-Trump protests rage on after attackers are charged
Two men who allegedly attacked protesters marching
in Portland against Donald Trump’s election
victory were due in court in Oregon yesterday
charged with attempted murder.

Shamar Hunter and Steffon Corothers, both 18, have
been charged with attempted murder and unlawful
use of a weapon.

Protests over Mr Trump’s election continued last
night in Oregon, New York, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Oakland and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The rallies show no sign of ending and some groups
have called for protests to be held in Washington
DC when Mr Trump is inaugurated in January.

Portland police said yesterday that the two
suspects climbed out of a car parked on a bridge
and one of them fired at protesters, wounding one
person in the leg. Officers later stopped the car
and detained four people. They found a Tec-9
semi-automatic pistol.

The Portland shooting was the most alarming
incident in six nights of protests in the city, a
west coast bastion of liberal values.

Oregon backed Hillary Clinton in the election.
However, the state’s rural areas voted
overwhelmingly for Mr Trump.

The state also has an overtly racist past. When it
was admitted to the Union in 1859 its constitution
forbade black people from living, working, or
owning property there and it remained illegal for
black people to move to Oregon until 1926. Black
people still make up only 6 per cent of the
population in Portland.

The protests in the state’s capital city began
before Mr Trump had officially been declared the
winner of the election on Tuesday night. They
escalated with the shooting on Saturday and peaked
later that night when police arrested 71 people as
the demonstrations turned increasingly violent.

In central Portland marchers hurled glass bottles
and flares at officers. On Sunday Kellyanne
Conway, Mr Trump’s campaign manager, told Fox
News that it was up to President Obama and Mrs
Clinton to calm the protesters.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a non-profit
watchdog that monitors hate groups, said that
there had been more than 200 incidents of
harassment and intimidation since Mr Trump was
elected.

Many of the racial offences were directed against
African Americans, immigrants, Muslims and the
LGBT community, the group said.

Mr Trump issued a tweet early on Friday objecting
that “professional protesters, incited by the
media, are protesting. Very unfair!”

It was later followed by one that adopted a more
presidential tone: “Love the fact that the small
groups of protesters last night have passion for
our great country. We will all come together and
be proud!”

Source - The Times

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