Portland police appear to punch protester on ground in new video

Police officers in Portland, Ore., appeared to punch a protester in the face as he was held to the ground during a demonstration that police declared an unlawful assembly in the city Sunday night, according to a video shared online.

Several officers are seen holding down a person and appear to punch the person in the face, according to the video tweeted by freelance journalist Laura Jedeed.

Jedeed tweeted a video of the incident with the comment, “Police arrest someone and punch him in the face multiple times.” 

Jedeed told ABC News the officers called for the crowd to disperse after declaring an unlawful assembly and then began arresting protesters.

“They kept saying things like, ‘You! Not press! You’re going to jail!’ They were basically grabbing anyone without a press pass,” Jedeed told the outlet.

A Portland police official was not immediately available for comment on the incident.

Police said in a statement on Monday they declared an unlawful assembly after rocks, eggs and other items were thrown at officers on Sunday night. Police said officers warned people to stop throwing projectiles and that anyone who was involved in such activity would be subject to arrest, citation and the use of crowd control agents. 

Police said a total of 29 people were arrested and said no munitions or CS gas was deployed by officers.

Protesters in Portland have been demonstrating daily for months, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May. The protests have reignited in wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., leading to violent clashes between protesters and counterprotesters. 

On Saturday, a man was fatally shot in Portland amid a clash between protesters and a caravan of President Trump supporters.

Protests in Kenosha have also turned deadly. Last week, two protesters were fatally shot and another was injured. Officials later arrested Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois. Rittenhouse faces homicide charges.

Trump is visiting Kenosha on Tuesday amid the unrest, despite pleadings from the mayor and governor, both Democrats, for the president not to visit at this time.