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CNN Live At Daybreak

Police, Demonstrators Clash in Portland

Aired August 23, 2002 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Portland, Oregon, police used pepper spray on protesters, angry over President Bush's foreign policy and his new forests initiative. As the president attended a fund- raiser inside a hotel, there was violence outside as riot police and hundreds of demonstrators clashed in the streets.
Here is David Wilson of our affiliate KPTV in Portland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID WILSON, CNN AFFILIATE KPTV REPORTER (voice-over): George W. Bush doesn't have to go all the way to Iraq for a war. He's already got one on his hands right here in Portland.

Shouting, "George Bush sucks," among other things, an estimated 2,000 demonstrators take to the streets in downtown. Protesters attempt to get as close as possible to the Hilton Hotel where Bush is staying. And as you might expect, police wanted to keep demonstrators as far away from the hotel as possible.

In full riot gear, police indiscriminately unleashed their pepper spray on the crowds, even hitting media people, like myself, a photographer and a radio reporter. They fired bean bag rounds and rubber bullets at demonstrators who were retreating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They hit me! They were telling me to move back. They pushed me so hard that I was going to fall, so I grabbed the baton that he's pushing me with to hold my balance, and then he just cracked me over the head with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were shooting people that were walking away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe that people are being pepper sprayed, and you know, it's our First Amendment right to be in the streets, and we should not be assaulted.

WILSON: But at times, the protesters blocked streets, city bus lines and even the mat (ph). And for a short while, they kept former Senator Mark Hatfield and other prominent Republicans from reaching the Hilton Hotel, where the president was speaking.

MARK HATFIELD (R), FMR. OREGON SENATOR: Really, it's their viewpoint that the people have, and I think they have a right to express it. But by the same token, I have a right to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And that was David Wilson with our affiliate KPTV in Portland.

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