Document text
Portland police arrest 3 in May Day protest deemed a 'riot' Protesters march through the street as police hold back traffic Monday in Portland. [AP Photo/Don Ryan] Monday May 1, 2017 at 6:01 PM May 1, 2017 at 6:01 PM By Gillian Flaccus and Lisa Baumann Associated Press PORTLAND— Smoke bombs, Molotov cocktails and other items were thrown at police Monday afternoon in Portland during May Day protests which police said turned into a riot. Portland police said officers had arrested three people near Pioneer Square after a protest permit had been cancelled "due to actions of anarchists." Police say anarchists destroyed a police car, set several fires in the street, damaged windows and attacked police. All participants were encouraged by police to leave or risk arrest. No injuries were immediately reported. In Seattle hundreds of people chanting "Stand up, fight back," hundreds of people marched through downtown Monday to support immigrants and workers on May Day. In Shemanski Park in Portland before the violence broke out hundreds of people, including some families with children, gathered at a May Day rally and watched dancers in bright feathered headdresses perform to the beat of drums. In both Portland and Seattle cities authorities had braced for demonstrations to turn disruptive, with some businesses boarding up windows and erecting barricades. Friends Marian Drake and Martin Anderson attended the Portland rally earlier in the day and watched from a nearby park bench as they held balloons supporting the International Workers Union. "Things are so screwed up in this country. You've got a city right here that's full of homeless people and you've got a president ...whose budget is going to cut 40 percent to the EPA and end Meals on Wheels. We don't like those kinds of things," Anderson said.