May Day protests in Portland, Ore., turned violent Monday when protestors allegedly threw rocks, lead balls and full cans of Pepsi at police.
Earlier in the day, a protestor offered the police a can of Pepsi, a nod to Kendall Jenner and Pepsi’s widely criticized ad. In the commercial, Jenner offers a police officer a can of Pepsi and the protest is called off as police and protestors come together.
Police took some shields from anarchists, anarchists grouped up toward cops. 1 tried to hand Pepsi to cop, unsuccessfully #Mayday #MayDayPDX pic.twitter.com/IV8nDzxLeP
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) May 1, 2017
Pepsi pulled the ad and apologized, following the overwhelming criticism the company received over accusations of appropriating the Black Lives Matter movement and protests in order to sell soda.
The police blamed the violence and property damage on anarchists, encouraging peaceful protestors at the pro-labor anti-Trump rally to separate from them. The Portland Police Department tweeted about the demonstration, which was at first permitted and then revoked when police deemed it a riot not a rally.
Rocks, lead balls and full cans of @pepsi being launched at police. Officers will be donning personal protective equipment. #MayDay2017
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) May 1, 2017
A @PDXFire medic was hit by a full @pepsi can thrown during #MayDayPDX protest march. Not injured.
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) May 1, 2017
Twenty-five people were arrested at the protests.
