At least 20 people were arrested during May Day demonstrations in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, in support of immigrants and worker rights, officials said.
Seattle police said 14 people were arrested Saturday for crimes including obstruction, property destruction, reckless driving and assault as several unpermitted marches wound through the downtown area. Demonstrators threw bottles, rocks, paint, paint-filled eggs and raw eggs and threw lighted flares into the roadway, officers said.
About 150 people participated in a permitted march in support of immigrant and worker rights, The Seattle Times reported. They also called for open borders, equality in vaccine access and spoke against hate crimes against Asian people, racism, police brutality and white supremacy.
“Our people have built multiracially with the Black working class, with Native folks with Latinx folks around the world to fight for a different vision of this planet, where we can live, where we can breathe, where we can be safe,” said JM Wong of Massage Parlor Outreach Project said during a speech in the center of Seattle's Chinatown International District.
In Portland, peaceful demonstrations during the day gave way to violent demonstrations at night. About 100 people marched toward the area around City Hall on Saturday night, where there were multiple reports of vandalism and broken windows at businesses, police said. Officers declared the gathering a riot and ordered people to leave. They later announced six arrests.
Officers deployed crowd dispersal munitions at a smaller group of people who gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Southwest Portland.
Law enforcement officers seized knives, a hammer, a slingshot and body armor from some demonstrators. One of the arrests was for menacing officers with a knife, the Portland Police Bureau said.
Earlier Saturday, demonstrators gathered for events in Portland and Salem, Oregon, to demand justice for migrant workers. None of those gatherings turned destructive, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
