For months, rioters in Portland have been creating mass chaos and putting ordinary people's lives at risk, to which Wheeler earlier responded by actually joining them in a show of "solidarity." But now that these domestic terrorists are targeting the lives of government officials, Wheeler has suddenly changed his tune.
"When you commit arson with an accelerant in an attempt to burn down a building that is occupied by people that you have intentionally trapped inside, you are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder," Wheeler said in a public statement.
Reports indicate that these rioters, many of whom are from out of town, had surrounded the Portland Police Bureau's East Precinct building on Wednesday night after locking government employees inside. They then proceeded to douse the facility in accelerant before trying to burn it down.
"I believe that city staff could have died last night," Wheeler added. "I cannot and I will not tolerate that. This is not peaceful protest. This is not advocacy to advance reforms or transform any system."
In his own separate statement, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell decried the behavior of these rioters as "incomprehensible," adding that these are people "who are intentionally planning to go out and attack precincts, trap people inside, (and) set fires to these buildings."
Even though rioters are chanting "Black Lives Matter," Wheeler and other government officials say there is no affiliation
Rather than order local police to crack down on such violence, Wheeler is instead politely asking that the rioters just "stop" what they are doing and go home. He is basically trying to appeal to whatever senses these domestic terrorists might have left in urging them to stop damaging area buildings and hurting people.
"This is criminal activity," Wheeler added in a follow-up statement. "It's serious. Lives are at stake, and I'm authorizing the Portland Police Bureau and our affiliated agencies at Multnomah County and the state of Oregon to do whatever is necessary to safely hold those people accountable who are engaged in criminal activity and bring these nightly activities to a close."
Wheeler further encouraged "non-violent demonstrators" to avoid coming to the areas where rioters are wreaking havoc, so as not to be associated with them. He also indicated that the more these people engage in such behavior, the more it "will be used in ads nationally to help Donald Trump during his campaign."
"If you are involved in this, please stop," petitioned Lt. Damon Simmons with Portland Fire & Rescue. "If you are around someone who is involved in this, please ask them to stop."
While many of the rioters have been heard chanting "Black Lives Matter" while they engage in such destruction, Wheeler and other Portland officials insist that this is just a coincidence and that there is no connection between the two groups.
In addition to trying to burn down buildings, the Portland rioters are also using lasers to blind police officers and block out surveillance cameras from capturing the mayhem.
Rioters have also been seen spray painting surveillance cameras as well as trying to tear them off buildings in order to avoid being seen. Since many of them are masked, this also conceals their identities so they can avoid prosecution.
For more related news about the Portland riots, be sure to check out Chaos.news.
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