Portland police chief resigns as activists erect then abandon 'autonomous zone'

Mirroring their protest neighbors to the north in Seattle, Portland protesters erected their own autonomous zone. It was abandoned by morning.

Amid the chaos, Portland Police Chief Jami Resch has stepped down from her post after just six months, appointing African American lieutenant, Chuck Lovell, to take her place.

In an effort to quell the behavior of the protesters and rioters, Mayor Ted Wheeler announced on Monday that he would be giving all Portland employees 40 hours of "uncontested bereavement" to mourn 400 years of African American oppression.

Prior to their departure from their would-be occupied zone, protesters and rioters in Portland had pulled fencing and created barricades to cordon off their own area and limit police presence. They dislocated any kind of fencing they could find to create a barricade.

The Portland police threatened to arrest anyone within the "zone," and deployed flash bangs.

Wednesday night marked the 14th night of protests in Portland over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

Portland has been a hotbed of Antifa radical behavior for the last couple years, including the violent assault against Andy Ngo in the summer of 2019. And now these same radicals have used the unjust death of George Floyd as a springboard to enact more destruction and mayhem.

Important arrests have been made in the city over the past few weeks of protests involving those who have committed assaults, including those that knocked a man's teeth out after trying to defend an older man holding an American flag.

One of the suspects involved was a 14-year-old, who has been transferred to a juvenile detention center and charged with felony assault. The second suspect arrested was 18-years-old and was charged with second-degree assault.

While protesters and rioters have taken a more defensive approach in setting up their own autonomous zone, they have also gone on the offensive in doxxing law enforcement officials.

The Oregonian reported that a Homeland Security document has revealed that members of law enforcement have had their information leaked online, which could endanger not only them, but their families as well.

Many law enforcement officials feel that they have been abandoned by lawmakers due to "police reform" while trying to keep their towns and cities safe.

But there are protests within the city of Portland that have remained largely peaceful, and have garnered a substantial number of people.

Twitter user Joshua Potash posted a video of hundreds of protesters walking down I-84, effectively shutting down the highway.  

And then again:

Though there are hundreds of people peacefully protesting around the country, there has been debate on whether the message has been lost with all the vandalism, assault, and death that has been perpetrated by extremist rioters who have been ever present in the midsts of those who remain peaceful.