POLICE DISPERSE PROTESTERS ON MLK

Police closed parts of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and ordered a crowd
of protesters off the street Monday night after people objecting to the
cancellation of a community party gathered near the home of Police Chief
Charles A. Moose.

No injuries were reported, but police did make some arrests.

Daniel Binns, a well-known figure in Northeast Portland, had invited about
2,000 people to his party Sunday at Sellwood Park. Police, saying many of
the people likely to come to the party were involved in gangs, ordered
Sellwood Park closed.

Binns and his family led the Monday night protest of the police crackdown.
Binns, who has said he has not been involved in crime in more than five
years, was later taken into custody, although the accusations against him
were not immediately known.

Several in the crowd said they were not simply supporting Binns but
protesting police treatment in general.

"When we want to get together and do something right, they won't let us,"
said John Wayne. Demetreas Wattier, 23, a Portland State University
student, said, "It seems like every time we try to do something, they are
always pushing it down."

Some in the group said they were not allowed to file a formal protest at
Northeast Precinct, so they went to King Boulevard and Northeast Going
Street, near where Moose lives, with their grievance. Moose apparently was
not at home.

Yvonne Richmond, who is Daniel Binns' sister, said an officer at Northeast
Precinct refused to provide her with a complaint form about police conduct.

Cmdr. Derrick Foxworth, in charge of Northeast Precinct, stood in the
middle of the boulevard and ordered about 100 people to disperse. He
ordered them to use Going Street, and when some of the crowd instead went
south on King Boulevard, helmeted officers fired what are called
less-lethal shotguns about three times. At least one person said he was
struck, although officers said they did not think anyone had been injured.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson