Portland Mayor Says ‘I Saw Nothing That Provoked’ Use of Tear Gas … as Rioters Set Courthouse on Fire.

On Wednesday night, Mayor Ted Wheeler (D-Portland) joined antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters as they massed to attack the federal courthouse for the 55th straight night of violent riots. Rioters threw Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices at the courthouse, setting part of it on fire. Federal law enforcement responded by trying to break up the crowd, using tear gas and hitting Wheeler himself with tear gas twice. Asked about the confrontation afterward, Wheeler said he was “p**sed off” and claimed that he saw “nothing that provoked this response.”

According to Portland Police, more than one thousand people gathered outside the Justice Center and the federal courthouse in downtown Portland, blocking traffic for several hours. At around 9:15 p.m., Wheeler spoke to the crowd. While he spoke, rioters chanted and set off fireworks.

After Wheeler finished addressing the crowd around 10:30 p.m., rioters threw flares and other incendiary devices over the fence that protects the west side of the courthouse. They continued to lob flammable material and incendiary devices over the fence for about 45 minutes, starting a large fire.

Some rioters breached the fence while others kicked and shook at it. Federal officers left the building in order to disperse the crowd.

While the timeline remains unclear, it appears that federal agents hit Wheeler with tear gas at about this time, gassing the mayor twice. As the fire grew, Wheeler told The New York Times‘ Mike Baker that the use of tear gas was an “egregious overreaction” and that he “saw nothing that provoked this response.”

“I can tell you with 100 percent honesty, I saw nothing that provoked this response,” the mayor insisted. “This is an egregious overreaction on the part of the federal officers. There was nothing that I saw that warranted this overreaction. … This is not a de-escalation strategy. This is flat-out urban warfare and it’s being brought on the people of this country by the president of the United States and it’s got to stop now.”

Moments before Wheeler gave these remarks, a rioter chucked something at him. A few minutes before Wheeler got hit with tear gas, the Times’ Mike Baker captured video of rioters shooting fireworks at the courthouse. If Baker was able to capture this video just before he captured the moment when Wheeler got hit with tear gas, the mayor must have known that incendiary devices like fireworks had been shot off at the courthouse. In other words, he knew there had been more than enough to “provoke” the federal response.