At least two federal buildings in Portland have been closed and the FBI is investigating a car bomb threat, officials said Friday. The threat, which was received Thursday, warned of the intention to use a car bomb to target federal property in Portland, two law enforcement officials said. A number of federal offices in the area have been closed because of the threat, the officials said. Investigators are trying to determine whether the threat is credible, the FBI said in a statement. The Portland office of the US Bankruptcy Court was closed because of a threat of violence in the area, according to the court's website. Also closed was the Mark O. Hatfield Federal courthouse, which was the site of weeks of violent protests last month, the AP reports.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Oregon's largest city nightly since the May police killing of George Floyd and clashed repeatedly with federal agents dispatched to protect the courthouse. The FBI's statement said, "If we develop information indicating a credible threat, we will notify the public." Protesters this week have focused on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. People in a group of about 100 late Thursday and before dawn Friday sprayed the building with graffiti, hurled rocks and bottles at agents and shined laser lights at them, Portland police said in a statement. Agents set off smoke or tear gas and used crowd-control munitions to try to disperse the crowd. Three people were arrested, police said. It wasn't clear if that building was included in the alleged threat or if the threat was connected in any way to those protests.
(More
Portland, Oregon stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
