Woman captures moment 'bomb' thrown at Black Lives Matter protesters
Police are investigating a suspected explosive device that was thrown amongst protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally in the US city of Portland.
Alissa Azar, an independent journalist, was live-streaming on social media from the protest when the incident occurred.
“Whoa....” she can be heard saying as she looks to her right.
A loud bang can be heard in the background as Ms Azar begins to look frightened.
“What the f**k? They just threw a bomb,” Ms Azar says as she quickly moves way from the scene.
A man can be heard shouting a description of the vehicle: “An older Tahoe SUV just threw a bomb on Fourth and Main.”
In the background of Ms Azar’s footage a black SUV can be seen. The woman coughs as smoke fills the air and a motorcycle speeds past her before the video ends.
Clashes between protesters and counter-protesters continued into the evening on the 80th consecutive night of demonstrations for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ms Azar posted the footage filmed on August 15 on her Twitter account.
“I was ending a stream when it happened. You can see the perpetrator driving behind me then hear the bomb go off and see some of the sparks and smoke,” she wrote.
Shortly after, she posted two photos to Portland police chief Chuck Lovell on Twitter of what she described as remnants of “a pipe bomb” that had been thrown from a black vehicle.
Portland Police Bureau (PPB) released a statement referencing Ms Azar’s video two days after the incident.
Black GMC suburban just threw a pipe bomb at us pic.twitter.com/e4deIsDSEx
— Daddy M (@R3volutionDaddy) August 15, 2020
“Commentary in the social media posts suggest a black GMC may have been involved, however, this information has not been verified by investigators,” the bureau wrote.
Police also said at the time of the incident they had not received any reports of a bomb, with Chief Lovell tweeting they were seeking for witnesses to come forward and hand in any evidence that may have been collected.
“PPB Investigators are very interested in speaking with the individual in the video and any other in-person eye witnesses who have information about what happened or any other first-hand video of the event,” PPB wrote online.
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