PORTLAND, Ore.—A band of Portland moms chanting, “No justice, no peace” led hundreds of marchers to a federal courthouse here Saturday night, arriving to raucous cheers from a few thousand others already in place.
For several hours, Moms United for Black Lives took their usual spot, front and center along a roughly 15-foot-high fence line ringing the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse, ground zero for more than two months of nightly protests. With helmets, goggles and gas masks at the ready, they were prepared for tear gas. But for the third consecutive night, they didn’t need them. They didn’t even see any law-enforcement officers.
The Trump administration and Oregon’s governor unveiled an agreement Wednesday for federal agents who had been deployed to defend the courthouse to draw back and be replaced by state troopers. The federal agents, who came from agencies including Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were a flashpoint for conflict over the past two weeks.
The march and protest downtown were festive for much of Saturday evening.
They wore camouflage, numerical identifiers instead of name tags, and patches with their affiliation that were difficult for many to recognize. They used tear gas and projectiles such as flash bangs and rubber bullets and took some people they said were suspects off the streets in unmarked vans. Local and state Democratic officials said they didn’t belong in the city. Some protesters threw things, including frozen water bottles, at them and shot fireworks at the courthouse, according to the federal government.
Since Thursday, the first night without federal law enforcement visible, protests that had been increasingly violent have been mostly peaceful. On Saturday, the mothers stood with their backs to the fence that had previously been graffitied and the scene of violent encounters as some protesters tried to climb over it. They led the crowd of thousands, including a group of drummers, in chants, including, “Black Lives Matter” and “Take it to the streets and [expletive] the police.”
Separately, a few hundred protesters descended on a police precinct on the city’s east side, according to local law enforcement, where they shined lasers at officers and threw glass bottles at them. The Portland Police Bureau said on Twitter that the gathering had been declared an unlawful assembly and that two people had been arrested.
Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, speaking on Fox News Saturday, attributed the drop in violence to the deployment of state police in Portland. “There is still violence going on in Portland. There was before DHS arrived, and there still continues to be. But we do see it at a much lower level. We’re happy about that,” he said.
The approximately 100 state police deployed to Portland weren’t visible Saturday night around the federal courthouse that agents from DHS and other departments previously guarded. Most protesters attributed the calm to the absence of federal officers and agents.
Sunday afternoon, at least two state troopers were inside the fence surrounding the courthouse. About a dozen people with signs supporting the police, including messages such as “back the blue,” stood nearby.
A representative for the state police didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Signs amplified the feelings of many of Saturday evening’s protesters.
Demetria Hester, one of the mothers, said now that protesters didn’t have to worry about federal agents they viewed as an illegitimate occupying force, they were once again focusing on racial justice and police brutality. Portland has seen the most consistent daily protests of any major city in the nation since George Floyd was killed by police in late May.
“I think they got the message,” Ms. Hester said of the federal authorities. “They know what we’re going to do. And we’re not going to back down.”
There was no way to determine if protesters who engaged in violence and property damage on prior nights stayed home or acted peacefully this weekend. Ms. Hester said members of her group used “mama power” to successfully persuade two people who climbed the fence to come down.
The march and protest downtown were festive for much of Saturday night. Volunteers brought dozens of pizzas, offering vegan, cheese or pepperoni slices at a riverside park a few blocks from the courthouse. Buckets of donated safety gear—goggles, helmets, earplugs and homemade plywood shields—were available but mostly untouched.
Several hundred people marched through the streets of northeast Portland in support of Black Lives Matter on Saturday.
Robert Hesslink, 64 years old, said he had come to several Portland protests in recent weeks and had noticed a dramatic change in tone in the past few days.
“Tensions have come down a lot,” Mr. Hesslink said. “You could feel it.”
Earlier in the day Saturday, several hundred people marched through the streets of northeast Portland in support of Black Lives Matter.
Speakers called on supporters to change the narrative of the protests to focus on racial justice and economic and educational improvements for Black and minority residents of the largely white area.
Alaysia Atkins, a 24-year-old activist and organizer, urged the crowd to avoid focusing their anger on law enforcement.
“If you say you care, I need that energy on election day,” Ms. Atkins said, speaking specifically to white supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. “November is when we are going to show that Black lives really matter.”
People of all ages participated in Saturday’s protest.
Write to Alicia A. Caldwell at Alicia.Caldwell@wsj.com
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