Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland locked police inside their own precinct — using a flag’s rope to prevent the doors from opening, authorities said.
The group of demonstrators removed the flag from outside the bureau’s central precinct shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, then used its cord to keep the precinct’s roll-up door closed, police said. The cord was secured to a nearby fire hydrant.
“Some individuals are tampering with the entry and exit doors. This is a fire safety hazard causing a serious safety concern for those in the Justice Center. Remove the items now!” police wrote on Twitter.
The demonstrators then used a U-lock to secure the precinct’s main doors, police said.
“[The lock] had to be cut off from the outside so those inside could leave,” the bureau tweeted.
Meanwhile, the flag was lit on fire, injuring at least one person, authorities said. The person’s condition wasn’t released.
Less than an hour later, police announced that “demonstrators have moved away from the building [and] the doors are re-opened.”
“Locking the Justice Center from the outside presented serious life safety concerns for the adults in custody and employees inside the building,” police wrote on Twitter.
The protests come amid unrest across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after a white former officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for nearly eight minutes.