Protesters burned an American flag and a Bible in Portland, Oregon, sparking outrage just as weeks of violent demonstrations seemed to be coming to a close. Drawing the national attention of BLM movement, Wall of Moms, and Wall of Vets, authorities blasted marchers with tear gas and weapons such as feces, bleach, bricks, or batteries.
Around 12:30 am on Aug. 1, people started a fire in the street in front of the federal courthouse which began with the burning of a Bible, then an American flag, with "more and more items" added to keep the fire going, KOIN, Portland's CBS affiliate, reported.
According to the video and social media, Friday night's demonstrations were largely peaceful, but after midnight, marchers were caught on video using the flag and the bible as kindling for bonfires lit outside the federal courthouse. The post featured a video that showed protesters with "Black Lives Matter" signs tossing Bibles into a raging bonfire. The video, which has gone viral, had more than 1.8 million views and thousands of retweets.
"Now we move to the book-burning phase," said Donald Trump Jr. in a tweet Saturday. "I'm pretty sure ANTIFA doesn't actually stand for what they say it stands for. Maybe just remove the anti part of [their] name and it's perfect," he wrote.
The fire was later put out by members of Moms United for Black Lives Matter, who doused the flames with bottles of water and stomped on the embers, according to KOIN 6, a local CBS affiliate television station in Portland.
