By Jake Dima
https://dailycaller.com/author/Jake+Dima/
An Associated Press (AP) reporter watched several U.S. Marshal agents sustain wounds as thousands sparred with police during the journalist’s stay at a federal courthouse over the weekend.
An estimated 4,000 people converged on Portland’s Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse, and demonstrators made their presence known by hurling concrete and launching fireworks from behind the massive fence that stood between them and federal agents, according to an AP report.
AP reporter Mike Balsamo was inside the building during the siege and watched a total of six agents sustain injuries, including one who was bloodied after taking a direct hit from a firework, he reported.
“We wanted to show you a look inside the protests from both perspectives — out in the crowd with protesters and inside the courthouse with federal officers,” Balsamo wrote on Twitter Monday. “It was a really eye opening experience to see it firsthand. I was inside the courthouse & @gflaccus was outside the fence.”
Protests often began peacefully, but frequently devolved into violence when demonstrators made a nightly march to the federal courthouse, according to Balsamo. Officers defending the area continued to fear for their lives.
“It’s scary. You open those doors out, when the crowd is shaking the fence, and … on the other side of that fence are people that want to kill you because of the job we chose to do and what we represent,” a Deputy U.S. Marshal, who requested anonymity because protesters reportedly posted his personal information online, told AP.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/27/associated-press-reporter-portland-federal-agents-injured/