Portland Police Tweeted a Photo of Projectiles Thrown at Them by Protesters. It Didn’t Go Over Well.

While bricks, rocks and glass bottles could certainly count as injurious, the other items in the photo are, well, less dangerous.

Protesters flip off police officers guarding the Multnomah County Justice Center on May 30, 2020. (Aaron Wessling)

On occasion over the past week, the Portland Police Bureau's official Twitter account has released images of items taken from the nightly protests downtown. That's included firearms, balaclavas, even an unused Molotov cocktail.

After Friday night's demonstration—a night when police used large quantities of tear gas against protesters—the bureau tweeted out a photo of objects thrown at officers during the protests:

While bricks, rocks and the broken necks of glass bottles could certainly injure officers when used as projectiles, the other items in the photo seem, well, a little less dangerous, particularly given that they're supposedly being hurled at officers wearing full riot gear: a can of White Claw, a container of garbanzo beans and a half-eaten apple.

It was all the ammo Twitter needed.

By Saturday afternoon, the tweet had gone viral and fallen victim to the dreaded Twitter Ratio, with the number of responses—over 10,000 so far—far outstripping the tally of likes and retweets. It was also mocked by Jezebel in an article titled "Thank You for Finding My White Claw and Various Antifa Sundries."

We've collected some of the best responses below. Once you get through those, if you're in the mood for more Twitter tomfoolery, check out @PortlandFence, the embodiment of the chain-link fence that police erected around the Multnomah County Justice Center, which has 4,000 followers and counting.

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