Dozens of women wearing yellow linked arms to form a protective "wall of moms" around Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday as the protesters clashed with federal law enforcement, NBC News reports.
Video from the scene showed crowds chanting “Feds stay clear, moms are here!" and "Feds go home!" before protesters toppled a fence erected around the federal courthouse. Federal agents fired back with what appeared to be tear gas and flash bangs, the video showed.
Hundreds of people had gathered for the demonstrations, blocking roads, Portland police said in a statement early Monday. Some of the women were there because their children had been tear-gassed in earlier protests over recent weeks, said freelance journalist Garrison Davis, who spoke to NBC News by phone after reporting from the rally.
“There’s definitely some parents and teens out there together,” he said.
The clashes on Sunday followed comments by the city's mayor blaming federal police for "escalating the situation."
