Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, took to Twitter Thursday night to phone on President Biden to condemn Inauguration Day protests turned violent riots at Portland and Seattle.
Over a dozen individuals have been arrested from both North West cities, according to police reports Thursday, following anti-Biden demonstrators targeted government buildings and the Oregon Democratic Party construction in Portland.
Biden as of Thursday evening had not commented on the Portland and Seattle protests.
Portland police reported that roughly 75 people marched up to the Democratic Party headquarters and vandalized the building with spray paint and broke windows.
The city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency division was subsequently targeted by a group of 150 people, who also vandalized the construction using anti-Biden and anti-police messages — forcing authorities to phone a criminal assembly and use tear gas to break up the crowds.
“I’m waiting for Pres Biden to condemn violence/looting/arson past two days in Oregon & Washington state,” Grassley said Thursday.
The protests that proceeded Wednesday’s inauguration were reminiscent of the violent protests carried out last summer.
Police officials haven’t said who they believed were behind the protests Wednesday evening, though videos of the events showed people largely dressed in black with helmets.
The Portland Police Bureau also noted that a lot of these came prepared with shields and gas masks.
Spray painted messages left behind on the vandalized structures left speeches, for example”F-Biden” and the anarchy sign.
Pictures circulated on social media showing protestors walking with signs that read”We don’t want Biden, we want revenge” and”We are ungovernable.”
Security officials were on high alert throughout the nation following the attack on the U.S. Capitol from pro-Trump fans on Jan. 6 — although protests across the nation on Inauguration Day remained minimal despite worries.
Biden addressed the nation in his first speech as president calling for unity.
“Politics doesn’t need to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path,” Biden said during his inaugural speech Wednesday. “Every disagreement does not have to become a cause for a entire war, and we must deny the culture where facts are manipulated, as well as fabricated.”
“My fellow Americans, we must be different than this. America has to be greater than that. And I believe America is so much better than this,” he added.
