EUGENE — Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Saturday, June 13, as Portland entered its third week of protests.

And in Eugene, activists toppled two pioneer statues on the University of Oregon campus. The statues have been a flashpoint of controversy.

Portlanders have marched each night challenging police brutality and racism following the killing of George Floyd, a black man who suffocated under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Several thousand demonstrators marched June 13 from Revolution Hall to Cleveland High School in southeast Portland, where they heard speeches for hours. Hundreds returned on June 14 for the 18th night of protests.

Cyclists hit in Portland

According to the Portland Police Bureau, a car “became entangled” with protesters June 13 as a motorist drove toward a large crowd. According to a person who filmed the incident, the driver ran through a group of cyclists blocking the road to protect protesters as they walked on the street.

In the video, demonstrators are seen puncturing the car’s tires, breaking windows and pounding its sides. Part of a monowheel or bicycle can be seen stuck under the vehicle as it drives away. It’s not clear whether the driver did anything aggressive toward protesters, either before or after the vandalism of the car. Portland Police are investigating the incident.

Large groups of demonstrators have also been gathering at the Justice Center in downtown Portland. On June 13, according to police, people attempted to cut through the surrounding fence and climb over it, throwing items, such as “glass bottles, full beverage containers, rocks, and other projectiles” over the fence. Police declared a civil disturbance and began dispersing the crowd just after 10:50 p.m.

Just after midnight, going into June 14, another group of more than a hundred demonstrators “threw mortars and fireworks” at officers, police said. Protesters were dispersed back toward downtown.

Portland Police said information on arrests is still being compiled, and that no gas was used on June 13.

Statues toppled on campus

The Pioneer Father and the Pioneer Mother statues were knocked off their pedestals at the University of Oregon by a small group of protesters June 13. The 13-foot-tall Pioneer Father was then dragged to the steps of Johnson Hall, the main administration building on campus.

University police were not available for comment.

The university issued a statement:

“These are obviously turbulent times. While we support peaceful protest and vigorous expression of ideas, we do not condone acts of vandalism. Our country, state and campus are coming to terms with historic and pervasive racism that we must address, but it is unfortunate that someone chose to deface and tear down these statues. Decisions about the future of the Pioneer statues and other monuments should be made by the campus community through an inclusive and deliberative process, not a unilateral act of destruction. Just this week, President Michael Schill recommended that the Board of Trustees dename Deady Hall and announced to the University Senate that he was asking a campus committee to look at whether statues or monuments on campus, including two Pioneer statues, should be removed. The university will put the statues in safe storage and allow that process to play out.”

Last spring marked the 100-year anniversary of the Pioneer Father’s arrival to campus. The bronze statue stood on top of a boulder and its plaque read simply, “Presented to the University of Oregon by Joseph N. Teal 1919.”

Native American students objected to the statue’s presence on campus, sparking demands to move it.

“The statue either misrepresents Oregon’s history or at least tells a very one-sided story of Oregon’s history,” Bret Gilbert, former co-director of the Native American Student Union at UO, said last year. “Whether it’s erasing it or not, it perpetuates the wide-held belief that this land was discovered and uninhabited … and that’s not the history of this land.”

The issue of the Pioneer Father statue escalated to anonymous cases of vandalism in 2019 and protests from the student union. UO President Michael Schill said in 2019 he was aware of some concerns about the statue, but they didn’t come to the forefront until last year.

“Certainly the pioneer statue tells the story of the state of Oregon, (and) a lot of the United States. There are statues all over the West,” Schill told The Register-Guard last year. “It’s telling a particularly positive story from the viewpoint of the dominant culture group, but what it’s not telling is the story from Native American groups that were here before them. So if you’re just walking around and you don’t know that story, you just think, ‘Oh this wonderful story about discovery of the frontier.’ And there’s some of that to this, but there’s also a darker side to it.”

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The Eugene Register-Guard contributed to this report.