Dozens of people were arrested overnight in Portland, Ore., and New York City following protests as Americans await the results of the 2020 presidential election in key battleground states.
Police in Portland declared a riot overnight and arrested 11 people following demonstrations there, Reuters reported. The National Guard was also deployed to the Oregon’s largest city.
“All of the gatherings that were declared riots were downtown,” a Portland Police spokesman told the news service. “There have been 11 arrests tonight and we have not received any reports of injuries.”
Authorities in New York say they took 50 people into custody during similar protests across the city.
The unrest comes as the nation awaits the final ballot counts in key battleground states like Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Democratic nominee Joe Biden currently leads President Trump in electoral votes, 253 to 214, with both candidates looking to secure 270 to win the White House.
Portland and New York were both cities that saw massive instances of civil discourse following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans killed by law enforcement in recent months.
In Portland, voters this week approved the creation of a community-run police oversight board aimed at building public trust in law enforcement. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, was also elected to a second term.
Separately on Wednesday, Trump supporters demonstrated outside a precinct in Maricopa County, Arizona — a key county where ballot counting was taking place.
Earlier on Wednesday, others in Detroit showed up outside a voting location in Detroit and demanded entry.
Trump has baselessly claimed victory in multiple states that have yet to declare a winner, accusing Democrats of trying to “steal” the election and filing lawsuits in several battlegrounds to either stop counting or challenge the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, a record number of which were cast this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Thursday morning, state races in Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania were either too close or too early to call.