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EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS: Portland’s Latest ‘Unlawful Assembly’ Fizzles Out After Officers Pinch Crowd From Multiple Sides

(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Monday saw yet another “unlawful assembly” in Portland, Oregon, but this time federal officers successfully surrounded the park and dispersed the crowd quicker than in previous days.

Portland has seen more than 60 days of protests and rioting, with weekend demonstrations swelling to thousands of people, and dwindling to just a few hundred by Monday.

Though smaller, Monday’s crowd continued its focus on the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. The fence surrounding it has been attacked by rioters nightly, and officers further fortified Monday by adding more concrete blocks facing the protesters.

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Members of the crowd launched fireworks, bottles and a garbage fire at the courthouse before midnight Monday. Federal officers once again announced warnings against tampering with the fence or attacking the courthouse, but the crowd remained focused. Officers responded from inside the fence with crowd control munitions – tear gas, pepper bullets and flash bangs – multiple times while issuing warnings over the loudspeaker.

After a substantial explosion landed at one of the doors of the courthouse, officers fired large amounts of tear gas into the crowd and officials declared the scene an “unlawful assembly.” It is unclear what caused the explosion, but it did result in a fire at the door of the courthouse.

Officers once again stormed out of the building while launching crowd control munitions. It’s become a nightly ritual: Federal officers forced out of the courthouse as determined members of the crowd continue to escalate the scene. (RELATED: Jerry Nadler Says Antifa Violence In Portland Is ‘A Myth’)

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Federal officers then retreated, only to arrive shortly afterwards from multiple side streets. They marched towards the crowd, pushing them back from numerous directions while firing crowd control munitions. Other officers remained behind the fence, keeping guard over the courthouse and pushing people back from that direction.

As seen in previous nights, the officers successfully forced Monday night’s crowd to retreat up the road from the courthouse. Following a tense standoff, officers deployed smoke and tear gas, allowing them to retreat behind the clouds left behind.

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Some crowd members returned to the court house, but those who did largely appeared wary and stayed away from attacking the fence. The evening continued to see dwindling numbers, and Daily Caller reporters noted fights breaking out among the group left milling about the courthouse area.

Monday’s “unlawful assembly” follows multiple days of battles between officers and protesters. The Portland Police Department declared Saturday evening a riot, then arrived on the streets and detained multiple people in the course of dispersing a large crowd that had been attacking the courthouse.