Gov. Kate Brown is sending 100 Oregon State Police troopers and 50 Oregon National Guard soldiers to Portland to assist with quelling violent protests that have rocked the city for several nights.

Brown said the National Guard troops would be unarmed and perform support roles such as traffic control, medical aid and arrest processing that will free up more police officers to patrol the streets.

“You don’t defuse violence by putting soldiers on our streets,” Brown said. “That is exactly what President Trump wants. Trump wants governors to deploy the National Guard as a show of force to intimidate the public.”

Governors of 22 other states have called in the National Guard to deal with protests.

Demonstrations have been held in more than 140 American cities.

In a conference call with governors Monday, Trump urged more aggressive action against violent protesters.“Most of you are weak,” Trump said, according to press reports.

The protests have been over the death of George Floyd, a black man, while in custody of Minneapolis police on May 25. A videotape surfaced showing Floyd, handcuffed and lying on the street, being restrained by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck. Floyd cried that he couldn’t breathe.

When Chauvin removed his knee after eight minutes, Floyd was unconscious. He was transported from the scene, and authorities announced he died soon after. Chauvin and three other officers were fired. Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder.

In some cities, massive peaceful gatherings were followed by a small percentage of protesters who burned buildings and police cars, looted stores and attacked police. Portland was among the cities where crowds took to the streets Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.

Early calls to activate

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams held a press conference Monday morning to renew the call for Brown to send in the National Guard.

“This has to stop,” Williams said. “In order for that to happen in the city of Portland, we need help. We need more help.”

Wheeler said city police needed backup after upheaval since Friday. “We are not calling for a widespread deployment,” he said. “We just need more people.”

Brown said Wheeler had asked for troops before and she had said no before. She refused him again Sunday.

“Putting our soldiers on the street would escalate the situation,” Brown said.

Brown said the additional state troopers and National Guard personnel should not be taken in any way as her opposition to peaceful protests.

“This was a cry for action, a call for reform, a community in mourning,” she said.

But she agreed to send the 50 state troopers, equivalent to about 25% of all troopers in Oregon, along with the National Guard, to backstop Portland-area law enforcement against what she said were a small number of people bent on violence. Each trooper or soldier would perform support roles that would free up local law enforcement to send more officers into the streets.

Brown said both the protesters and law enforcement in the streets were in danger of contracting or spreading the COVID-19 virus, which Oregon has battled more successfully than other states, with just over 150 of the more than 100,000 deaths nationwide.

Monday marked one week since Floyd died, and officials are concerned violent protests will continue. Wheeler announced he was extending the city’s 8 p.m. curfew through Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

All the public officials who spoke at press conferences Monday underscored that the vast majority of the thousands of people who have gathered to protest Floyd’s death have been peaceful. But peaceful protests during the day devolved into street fighting, looting and violence in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities.

In Portland, the Multnomah County Justice Center, which includes police headquarters and a jail, was attacked Saturday and a portion set on fire. The Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse was targeted Sunday.

Williams called the attacks “sickening.”

In Oregon, demonstrations in Eugene and Salem on Saturday also began peacefully, but ended with some smashing windows and looting stores. A demonstration in Bend on Saturday was peaceful. Other protests have taken place in Klamath Falls and Medford.

Black leaders in the Portland area argued that the National Guard’s presence on the street would only inflame the situation.

Nkenge Harmon Johnson, leader of the Urban League of Portland, told Willamette Week it was a cure worse than the problem.

“The curfew was a challenge to people in Portland,” Johnson said. “You saw how they reacted. Putting the National Guard on the streets just escalates the challenge.”

‘We are not going to have martial law’

The vision of troops in military dress with military weapons on the streets of Portland was something Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty would not accept.

“We are not going to have martial law,” she said.

It took assurances that the National Guard would be mostly behind the scenes, unarmed, for her to support the move and take part in Brown’s teleconference.

Williams acknowledged that bringing in the National Guard could inflame some demonstrators. “There’s a risk every day in many things that we do,” he said. To not call in the National Guard and allow more violence and destruction would be a worse alternative.

“At some point, you have to do the right thing,” he said.

Oregon National Guard troops have been involved with the coronavirus crisis, setting up a field hospital in Salem that could have been used if the initial surge of patients needing care overwhelmed area hospitals. Troops also transported cots and hygiene packs to La Grande and distributed face masks to several groups.

Brown and others said Monday that they would push efforts to advance equality for people of color, demilitarize police attitudes and work for equity in health care and jobs.

“There is no silver bullet,” Brown said. “It’s going to take buckshot.”