Rose City Remonstration
A unique mix of protesters gather around the flames where the Elk Bronze statue once stood between Chapman and Lownsdale Square on July 12, 2020, in downtown Portland, Ore.
Two protestors are detained by police during a protest outside the Portland Police Association (PPA) building July 13, 2020, at 868 N Lombard Street in Portland, Ore.
A protester takes a break in Lownsdale Square in downtown Portland, Oregon on July 17, 2020. The square sits across the street from the Multnomah County Justice Center, the focal point of remonstration in the Rose City during the summer of 2020.
Protesters outside of the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Oregon carry an evangelical individual out of the area on July 17, 2020, after he repeated screamed for those attending the protest to come to Jesus Christ and confess their sins.
A protestor sits with a collection of used crowd control mutations July 18, 2020, outside the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Ore.
Artillery shell fireworks create a flurry of sparks as they explode around unflinching police officers standing guard July 24, 2020, in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Ore.
A protestor in a speedo stands in the street during a lull in the night’s intensity July 18, 2020, outside the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Ore.
Sparks from a tear gas grenade rain down on shielded protestors July 25, 2020, as they advance slowly in unison toward the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Ore. Law enforcement officers completely cleared the area around the Multnomah County Justice Center shortly after this photo was taken with tear gas, rubber bullets, mace spray and batons.
A Portland police officer looks at small crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in downtown Portland, Oregon outside the Chevron Gas Station at 400 W Burnside St on August 29, 2020.
Jonathan Langevin brandishes a rubber bullet wound June 13, 2020, that he received from Portland police 11 days ago during a protest in Portland, Ore.
Approximately 500 hundred Black Lives Matter protestors gather June 6, 2022, at Irving Park in Portland, Ore.
Portland police sit down to rest after a long day and night of protests Aug. 29, 2020, near the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Ore.
The summer of 2020 is a summer the city of Portland, Oregon will never forget. The Rose City experienced over 100 nights of consecutive protests following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2022, by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin during Floyd’s arrest for using a counterfeit $20 bill.
The majority of these photos were taken in downtown Portland outside of the Multnomah County Justice Center – a grand, high-rise structure which houses the Portland Police Bureau's (PPB) Central Precinct, one of two Multnomah County Detention Centers, the PPB's headquarters – and the adjacent U.S. District Courthouse.
For months hundreds, sometimes thousands, of protestors gathered night after night at the Justice Center in remonstration of police violence and brutality in the Rose City and across the country. Some nights large fires burned in the fountains and streets lining the public squares which sit opposite the Justice Center and no police intervened or pressed their calm to restore order. On other nights a seemingly permanent cloud of tear gas would engulf the Justice Center and the surrounding area as local police and federal agents deployed a plethora of crowd control munitions to clear protesters from the area.
These 13 photos received 4th placed in the 2020-2021 Photojournalism II – Picture Series/Story category in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.