Antifa rioters reportedly attacked Portland police on New Year’s Eve. According to the Portland Police Bureau, the rioters attacked their officers using commercial-grade fireworks and fire bombs that can cause serious injury. Not content with attacking police officers, the rioters also attacked the federal courthouse and small businesses.

The Antifa activists threw several Molotov cocktails at the police as well as powerful fireworks. The activists attacked them as they were trying to defend the downtown area where all the businesses are located. They were also attacked with bricks and water bottles. All the objects thrown at them were intended to hurt, cause injury, or even worse.

The independent journalist Andy Ngo was on the ground to report on the incident. He posted it on Twitter. “In downtown Portland outside the Hatfield federal courthouse, Antifa rioted for New Years by launching mortar fireworks and projectiles at police. #PortlandRiots #antifa.”

“Antifa rioted in downtown Portland for New Years in a planned & pre-announced night of violence. They smashed up small businesses, started fires & even pushed outnumbered law enforcement back. #PortlandRiots”

After the attack, the police ordered the activists to disperse, and they declared the demonstration to be a riot. As expected, the rioters refused to comply with the orders from the police. The attacks on the police forced them to retreat but as they returned, that only emboldened the rioters even further.

One of the businesses attacked during the unrest was Starbucks. Brendan Gutenschwager posted about the incident on social media. “A Starbucks is ransacked in downtown Portland during tonight’s anti-police, anti-capitalism New Years Eve demonstration #PortlandProtests #NewYearsEve #Portland.”

According to reports, that particular Starbucks is not going to be opening again. An employee allegedly said that they took down the fences to keep away the rioters before the incident, which was a bad decision. Now, the shop will not be opening again. That Starbucks is not the only business that is considering leaving or closing shop permanently. All the protests of the past few months have affected most of the businesses in the same area. Being targeted by all the rioters has aggravated the lack of business caused by the pandemic.