A top Democratic staffer for the Speaker of the House in Oregon was arrested last week, along with 58 others, during yet another riot in Portland.
Kristina Narayan, who works for House Speaker Tina Kotek — Oregon’s leading Democrat — was arrested on Sep. 5th and charged with interfering with a Peace Officer.
Authorities say Narayan was part of a large crowd that carried shields and knives during a protest. The crowd again turned into a riot and threw firebombs, rocks, and explosives at police officers. Officers then moved in and arrested the Democratic staffer and others.
“This criminal activity presented an extreme danger to life safety for all community members, and prompted a declaration of a riot. The crowd was advised over loudspeaker that it was a riot and they were to leave the area to the east immediately. They were warned that failure to adhere to this order may subject them to arrest, citation, or crowd control agents, including, but not limited to, tear gas and/or impact weapons,” the official police report said.
“Individuals within the crowd began throwing illegal fireworks/mortars at officers. Others were seen throwing rocks. At least one had a ‘wrist-rocket’ type of slingshot launching unknown objects. In order to defend themselves from these assaults, officers used crowd control munitions, including tear gas. Officers made numerous targeted arrests.”
Narayan was released with no bail, authorities said.
Kotek has previously been critical of police tactics against rioters in Portland, calling their use of tear gas “unacceptable.”
Portland’s mayor announced this week that police were officially banned from using tear gas moving forward, despite the nightly riots that have gripped downtown Portland for three straight months.
Of course, it’s not just police being injured or harmed during the riots.
The same night as Narayan’s arrest, video of a man being lit on fire by a molotov cocktail thrown from the crowd went viral —
https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1302476141219905536
READ MORE: The deadly last stand of suspected Portland Antifa killer
The Horn editorial team