Portland reached its 100th night of anti-racism protests on Saturday with spat of Molotov cocktails that lit on person on fire and the home of Pittsburgh’s mayor was surrounded by residents demanding the police be defunded as a swath of demonstrations sparked across the country.

Labor Day weekend kicked-off with Black Lives Matter demonstrations taking place in numerous cities across the United States as residents continue to decry racial inequality, police brutality and the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. 

In Portland, the whitest city in the United States, hundreds of protesters continued to clash with law enforcement as nearly 30 people were arrested, a swarm of fireworks were launched into the air and one person caught on fire from a deployed Molotov cocktail.

In Pittsburgh, officers were forced to stand guard outside Mayor Bill Peduto’s home as a group of demonstrators gathered outside his home with lights and bells as they called for action against local law enforcement.

Further down south, just under 20 people were arrested on Saturday in Tallahassee, Florida, during protests after a Leon County Grand Jury ruled that three officer-involved shootings were justified. 

The Kentucky Derby was marred by heavily-armed Trump supporters faced off with members of the anti-Trump militia, Not F***** Around Coalition,’ who also gathered in Louisville.   

And anti-Trump group Refuse Fascism staged a series of protests across the United States on Saturday, as America’s chaotic and turbulent summer continued.

Portland 

On Saturday, the spirit of protest remained strong as hundreds carrying signs, donning helmets and waving Black Lives Matter flags descended upon Portland for the 100th night of demonstrations. 

Around midnight, the Portland Police Bureau noted that people were marching near Ventura Park as part of ‘unpermitted’ demonstration. 

But just minutes later, authorities said that some groups were engaging in ‘tumultuous and violent conduct’ and labeled the demonstration a ‘riot.’

‘Portland Police note that persons on Southeast Stark are engaging in tumultuous and violent conduct thereby intentionally or recklessly creating a grave risk of causing public alarm,’ they said.

‘This is a riot. Police are giving announcements to disperse People are throwing Molotov cocktails.’

Photos and video taken from the demonstration show a number of Molotov cocktails being launched into roadways as a small army of officers stand nearby.

 In one video, officers implore residents to disperse from the area as Molotov cocktails crash against the pavement and fire erupts.

‘This has been declared an unlawful assembly,’ officers say. ‘All persons immediately leave the area. Failure to adhere to this order may subject you too arrest, citation or the use of crowd control agents including but not limited to tear gas and, or impact weapons.’

Seconds later, a Molotov cocktail is thrown but drops dangerously close to a protester standing in the roadway. 

A wave a gasps are heard as a man rushes out of the inferno with both his feet on fire. The man desperately tries to kick the fire away but needs assistance from other demonstrators.

‘Stop, drop and roll!’ one person shouts. The man on fire rolls across the ground but is forced to take his shoes off as the fire continues to burn the fabric.

After that, footage shows a ‘war’ erupting in Portland as loud fireworks are blasted into the air, smoke from the Molotov cocktails billow and the line of officers move in on the protesters.

The Portland Police Bureau revealed in a press release that 27 people were arrested between Friday night and Saturday morning after protesters refused to vacate area.

The march began in Kenton Park on Friday, a common site for previous protests, before winding towards the Portland Police Association building.

Officers reportedly used stun grenades, shot impact munitions and smoke devices to clear the demonstrators. 

The Oregonian reports that traces of blood were visible on the ground where officers had pinned and detained residents.  

‘After rocks were thrown at officers, an unlawful assembly was declared at the Portland Police Association offices in North Portland, and numerous arrests were made,’ the department said in the statement.

Authorities claimed they waited 90 minutes for deescalation methods before making any arrests.

‘Officers began to make targeted arrests and in some cases moved the crowd back and kept them out of the street. Several times officers pulled back and allowed members of the assembly an opportunity to leave,’ the statement read.

According to the statement, the majority of those arrested were from Portland, but one man was from West Virginia and another from Washington state. 

Michael Reinoehl, 48, was shot dead by members of a federal task force in Washington, after they attempted to apprehend him on murder charges in the killing of Aaron ‘Jay’ Danielson, 39.

Danielson was allegedly shot in the chest by Reinoehl after clashes between Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters broke out during a rally in Portland. 

Pittsburgh 

The Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was confronted over his city’s policies and law enforcement at his home Saturday night by upset residents.

Around 100 people met in the East Liberty neighborhood for ‘Civil Saturdays,’ the name given to their continued protests, they traveled through downtown.

The Post-Gazzette reports that Saturday’s demonstration was meant to disrupt restaurant diners and residents with a call for Black Lives Matter.

‘Out of the bars and into the streets,’ the group chanted. 

The eventually rounded to the home of Mayor Bill Peduto after criminal charges were filed against four protest leaders.

People outside his home held signs reading ‘Defund the Police’ and flashed flashlights into windows.

At one point, protest leader Nique Craft stood in front of an apartment building to address residents watching the protest from their balconies.

‘Four people were arrested just for doing exactly this,’ she said. 

Tensions flared on the trek to Peduto’s home after one restaurant employee reportedly told members of the protest to ‘go back to their own country.’

Once outside Peduto’s home, demonstrators were met with a half-dozen Pittsburgh police officers standing in front of the mayor’s door.

After standing there for a short time, Post-Gazzette reports that officers began putting on their riot helmets.

‘I don’t see a riot here why are you in riot gear?’ protesters chanted in response.

The group eventually left Peduto’s home and the demonstration peacefully dispersed just after 10pm.

Rochester

 Residents in Rochester, New York, gathered for the fourth night in a row to protest the death of Daniel Prude, a 29-year-old black man who was shot seven times in the back by law enforcement.

Police used batons, pepper balls and tear gas to push back about 2,000 protesters who marched toward the Public Safety Building on Saturday night, chanting ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Daniel Prude’ – a reference to the Black man who died after an encounter with police in March.

The Rochester Police Department said in a statement that protesters had ignored their orders to disperse, and that some hurled bottles, rocks and fireworks at officers.

Fox News reports that 11 people and three officers were injured on Friday night as tensions flared the night before.

On Friday, a large group of Black Lives Matter protesters surrounded a restaurant diners were eating. 

Many look terrified as demonstrators smashed the customer’s glasses in front of their faces, broke plates, overturned chairs and chanted at them to get out.

‘We’re shutting your party down,’ one woman is seen shouting in the face of a diner, in footage taken by FreedomNewsTV.

One woman whose clothing got caught up as she tried to run from the incoming crowd.

‘No need to run,’ a protester told her. ‘Nobody is hurting you. Nobody’s going to touch you…we’re shutting the party down.’

The crowd chants, ‘If you don’t give us our s***,’ we shut s*** down.’       

Later, pepper balls were fired at demonstrators, a bus stop was set on fire and authorities declared the event an ‘unlawful assembly.’ 

Tallahassee

The Sunshine State’s capital saw officers clad in riot gear arrest 15 people on Saturday amid protests over thee police-involved shootings.

A Grand Jury this week determined that that shootings of Tony McDade, Mychael Johnson and Wilbon Woodard were justified, prompting outrage from local residents.

The Leon County Grand Jury, which is made up of 21 randomly selected residents, is tasked with using evidence like body camera footage and cell phone footage to determine if the killings were criminal. 

WXTL reports that the protest was fairly calm until officers pulled over a female driver in front of the Capitol Building for allegedly driving too slow.

Officers told the woman she would receive a ticket, but protesters who witnessed the exchange chanted ‘no,no,no!’

A shoving match reportedly broke out between officers and protesters. At least one officer was hit and some residents were treated for injuries at a local hospital.  

New York City

Over two dozen protests were scheduled, with large gatherings happening in Los Angeles and New York.

Holding aloft orange placards and banners reading ‘Trump/Pence out now’, they marched through cities across the U.S.

In New York City‘s Union Square, one protester hoisted a giant image of Trump as a devil on his shoulders.

The New York City march then wove through Manhattan, heading up towards Times Square. 

 Washington D.C.

In Washington DC, protesters took to the streets on skateboards, on bicycles and on foot, heading for Lafayette Square and the White House.

President Donald Trump spent Saturday playing golf at his course in Sterling, Virginia, and so was not home for their noisy demonstration.

The crowd held aloft the orange placards, and posed for photos in front of the White House.

Some had hand-made signs demanding the defunding of police, and an end to police brutality.

Outside Trump’s golf course, meanwhile, rival pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators waved their flags.

Some brandished Biden-Harris banners, while others held flags in support of the president. 

Louisville

In Kentucky, armed supporters of the police and anti-racism protesters squared off near the famed Kentucky Derby horse race on Saturday, as dueling demonstrations over racial justice and policing continued to grind on across U.S. cities.

As the afternoon wore on, a large group of protesters marched toward the Churchill Downs track chanting ‘No Justice, No Derby’ – a nod to an earlier call by activists for the historic race in Louisville, Kentucky, to be canceled. 

The race was being held without spectators to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Earlier on Saturday, some of the counter-protesters outside Churchill Downs, brandishing pistols and long guns, squared off with a group of Black Lives Matter protesters and got into shoving matches. 

People on both sides screamed, faces inches apart. After about 45 minutes, police cleared the people from the park, but the protests outside Churchill Downs continued.

The counter-protesters included about 250 pro-police demonstrators called ‘The Angry Vikings,’ who were armed and dressed in tactical gear.

Demonstrations against racism and police brutality have swept the United States since May 25 when George Floyd, a Black man, died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. 

Meanwhile, a group of about 200 members of NFAC — a black militia group which has protested against police killings of black people — had gathered at a park just outside Churchill Downs and were inspecting their weapons, with the Derby preliminaries well underway inside. 

Most of the NFAC militia members came from Georgia, according to a local reporter, Travis Ragsdale 

NFAC, which stands for ‘Not F***ing Around Coalition,’ was in the city in July protesting injustice in the Breonna Taylor case.

Organizers said they would return if Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron didn’t complete the investigation into Breonna Taylor’s death. 

Louisville has emerged as one flashpoint in a summer of unrest due to the death of Taylor, a black 26-year-old woman who was killed when the city’s police burst into her apartment with a ‘no-knock’ arrest warrant in March.  

‘When they start the race, ain’t nobody going to be enjoying themselves,’ NFAC leader John ‘Grandmaster Jay’ Johnson said. 

‘You see, they’re looking at us right now. They really don’t give a damn about no race. 

‘Louisville, y’all brought this on yourself.’

Johnson then led the group back to G.G. Moore Park, where the NFAC’s march began, shortly before the running of the Derby. 

As the NFAC did a ‘weapons check’ before the start of the march at G.G. Moore Park, WDRB reported that one of the leaders only wanted people with long weapons.

‘If you’re only carrying a pistol, you will not be allowed in this formation,’ he reportedly said.