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Two people protesting police brutality during a Portland City Council meeting were arrested this morning after refusing to leave.

The protesters were part of a larger group that came to protest how the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) handled last weekend's Patriot Prayer rally, which ended with the cops tossing flash bang grenades at counter-protesters. At least two people who suffered serious injuries from those munitions came to testify before council.

The group interrupted the weekly council meeting with loud chants—eventually forcing city commissioners to hold the meeting in another room in the building. Police arrived and arrested two protesters who refused to leave the second floor. Both people were arrested on second degree trespassing charges.


While this was going on upstairs, city hall security guards were attempting to wrangle the rest of the protesters out of the building. It wasn't easy. Protesters allegedly called guards "Nazis" and demanded the guards let them speak with Mayor Ted Wheeler. According to the Oregonian, one of the guards was repeatedly hit in the head with a megaphone.

According to a PPB press release, two security guards were assaulted during the confrontation on the first floor, though neither sustained serious injuries.

This is the second incident in two months where a protester injured a security guard during a Portland City Council session.