(CNN)Protests flared up across the country this weekend, two months after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis catalyzed a nationwide reckoning over race and policing.
From Portland to Seattle to Louisville, Kentucky, protesters took to the streets, as the nation honored the life of civil rights hero John Lewis.
Some protests were largely peaceful. Others descended into clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators.
Here’s a break down of the unrest.
Portland was already brimming with tension before the weekend.
Protests there took center stage this month after President Donald Trump sent federal agents to the city to protect federal property — a move that angered local demonstrators, who view it as an occupation of their city.
Demonstrations Friday night began peacefully, according to the Portland Police Bureau, which said a crowd gathered outside the federal courthouse to listen to speakers.
Demonstrators march during a Black Lives Matter protest Friday, July 24, 2020, in Portland, Oregon.
Around 11 p.m., people began shaking a fence while others shot fireworks over it, police said. A large group of peaceful protesters appeared to approach the group rocking the fence and tried to de-escalate the tension, according to a CNN team on the scene.
Police “attempted to disperse the crowd using various munitions,” the PPB said in a statement. According to police, members of the crowd had gas masks, shields, leaf blowers, power tools, fireworks and lasers.
Federal agents deployed tear gas and flash bangs from behind the fence, set up as a barricade between the protesters and the Multnomah County Justice Center, across the street from the federal courthouse, the CNN team reported. Right before agents released the gas, a crowd of peaceful protesters had been chanting “Black Lives Matter.”
Source: Protests erupted across the US this weekend as demands for racial justice grow
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