Top GOP senator demands Biden condemn West Coast anti-govt riots
By Caitlin McFall | Fox News
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, took to Twitter Thursday night to call on President Biden to condemn Inauguration Day protests turned violent riots in Portland and Seattle.
More than a dozen people have been arrested in the two North West cities, according to police reports Thursday, after anti-Biden demonstrators targeted government buildings and the Oregon Democratic Party building in Portland.
Biden as of Thursday evening had not commented on the Portland and Seattle protests.
Portland police reported that roughly 75 people marched up to the Democratic Party headquarters and vandalized the building with spray paint and broke windows.
The city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency branch was then targeted by a group of 150 people, who also vandalized the building with anti-Biden and anti-police messages – forcing police to call an unlawful assembly and use tear gas to break up the crowds.
"I’m waiting for Pres Biden to condemn violence/looting/arson last two days in Oregon & Washington state," Grassley said Thursday.
Fox News could not immediately reach the Iowa Republican for comment on how he would like to see Biden tackle the recent unrest.
The protests that proceeded Wednesday’s inauguration were reminiscent of the violent protests carried out last summer.
Police officials have not said who they believe were behind the protests Wednesday evening, though videos of the events showed people largely dressed in black with helmets.
The Portland Police Bureau also noted that many of them came prepared with shields and gas masks.
Spray painted messages left behind on the vandalized buildings left messages, such as "F-Biden" and the anarchy sign.
Images circulated on social media showing protestors walking with signs that read "We don’t want Biden, we want revenge" and "We are ungovernable."
Security officials were on high alert across the country following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump supporters on Jan. 6 – though protests across the country on Inauguration Day remained minimal despite concerns.
Biden addressed the nation in his first speech as president calling for unity.
"Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path," Biden said during his inaugural address Wednesday. "Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for a total war, and we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated, and even manufactured."
"My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this. America has to be better than this. And I believe America is so much better than this," he added.
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Originally Posted by lost in melb.
yes, he's a democrat, only Republicans have "denounce XYZ Violence now or you are an inconsiderate tyrant" tossed at them to have it stick
