Words Camilla Mortensen
Video Eve Weston
On Jan. 27, 30 and 31, federal agents at the Eugene Federal Building fired tear gas, pepper balls and pepper spray, not only in the courtyard of the building but also into Pearl Street and East 7th Avenue and a nearby parking lot.
The streets were open at the time. Passersby and passing vehicles were exposed to the fray. “Roll up your windows, it’s tear gas,” protesters shouted to the passing cars.
On Jan. 27, the night of the Oregon Nurses Association vigil, pepper balls were shot into the crowd, past the candles burning in a memorial for Alex Pretti, who had been shot and killed by ICE Jan. 24.
Then on Jan. 30, Eugene Police declared the protest a riot. A press release issued at the time said, “There were breaches in entry points. Some protesters breached the building and went inside. Occupants include civilian staff.”
However, there has been no information backing up the claims that protesters went inside, and video shows federal agents inside the building kicking out the glass. At this time it is unclear if the larger broken window was already cracked or broken from protesters pounding on it and throwing projectiles.
While EPD was called in to the protest, Mayor Kaarin Knudson said at a Feb. 1 press conference that the local police have not used any force or munitions.
That night, Eugene Weekly again documented tear gas and pepper balls shot at protesters as they fled across the street. People in the parking lot on the south side of the Federal Building who were giving aid to those injured by the pepper balls and tear gas had to flee.
A smaller, quieter protest on Jan. 31 also resulted in federal agents rushing out and firing riot control agents both on the grounds of the Federal Building and out into the streets and parking lot.
One protester who was fleeing into the street, where cars were passing, said that federal agents “shot my mask, they’re aiming for the head.”
As he finished speaking, a federal agent shot a tear gas canister across the street, landing at his feet and next to Eugene Weekly’s Eve Weston and The Daily Emerald’s Saj Sundaram.
At the Feb. 1 press conference with Knudson, Rep. Val Hoyle, state Sen. James Manning, Eugene Weekly columnist Dan Bryant and other community members, Knudson said that she was concerned at the reports of federal agencies “shooting pepperballs off the Federal Building property, across the public right-of-way, towards — I do not know whom — but I have real questions about whether or not that could be in any way, shape or form be addressing a credible threat.”
She said she will be following the issue of pepper balls and tear gas being used excessively “as they are harmful to the broader community.”