US: Police and Anti-Racism Demonstrators Clash in Seattle

Forty-five people Sunday were arrested after violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers at anti-racists demonstrations in Seattle.

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“The police made 45 arrests in connection with a riot in the East Precinct. Twenty-one officers sustained injuries after being struck by bricks, rocks mortars, and other explosives,” the Seattle Police Department (SPD) stated.

Thousands of citizens marched in support of ongoing protests in Portland, carrying signs calling for the withdrawal of the police forces and shouting chants of "No Justice, No Peace."

Even though the demonstration was initially peaceful, officers started using stun grenades and tear gas, as a small group of protesters set fire and broke several windows at a county juvenile detention center.

On July 22, President Donald Trump decided to send federal forces to Portland, Oregon, supposedly to stop the increasing shootings and acts of vandalism going on in the city. After that, he decided to send forces to several cities as well.

“After a day of conflicting messages from the federal government, where they told my staff repeatedly that there was no surge of additional personnel to Seattle, it appears they are doing just that," Washington Governor Jay Inslee tweeted.

Protests in Portland and Seattle are the embers of the anti-racist protests wave over the African-American George Floyd murder in Minneapolis, last May.