Portland mayor tear gassed alongside protesters

The mayor of Portland, Ore., was hit with tear gas Wednesday night after he joined a crowd of protesters who gathered outside a federal courthouse as tensions persisted in the city in response to the Trump administration's deployment of federal officers.

Video shared on social media showed Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) coughing and retrieving goggles as a haze of gas overwhelmed a crowd that was protesting behind a fence located in front of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse.

Wheeler did not leave his spot at the front of the demonstration after tear gas was unleashed, The Associated Press reported.

"I’m not afraid, but I am pissed off," Wheeler told The New York Times at the site of the protest. "This is an egregious overreaction on the part of the federal officers."

The mayor said that the protesters had done nothing to provoke such a response from federal officers, adding that the tactics would only intensify tensions.

"This is not a de-escalation strategy. This is flat-out urban warfare," Wheeler said. "And it's being wrought on the people of this country by the president of the United States and it's got to stop."

Wheeler had earlier in the evening addressed the protesters before standing side by side with them. In a speech to the crowd, he shouted "Black lives matter" and thanked the thousands who had protested in the city to "oppose the Trump administration’s occupation of this city."