Joe Biden Condemns ‘Unacceptable’ Violence After Portland Shooting

A clash between far-right demonstrators and counter-protesters in Portland, Oregon, turned deadly on Saturday night after one individual was shot and killed. Former Vice President Joe Biden took to Twitter on Sunday to condemn the violence and to call for people to unite in the wake of the tragedy.

“The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable. Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same,” he wrote.

He went on to add that the U.S. shouldn’t allow itself to be torn apart by ideology.

“We must not become a country at war with ourselves. A country that accepts the killing of fellow Americans who do not agree with you. A country that vows vengeance toward one another,” he added.

He concluded by pointing out that Donald Trump had been president for four years and despite his claims that he would quell the unrest, the U.S. was more divided and tense than ever.

“And all of us are less safe because he can’t do the job of the American president,” he wrote.

Biden’s statement comes after a man named Jay Bishop was shot and killed, as The Oregonian reported Bishop was a “friend and supporter” of the Washington-based far-right group, Patriot Prayer.

A caravan of pro-Trump and pro-police protestors circled Portland last night before a few of the cars broke off and entered the downtown corridor. There, they clashed with counter-protesters in interactions that sometimes turned violent.

Some Trump supporters shot paintballs into the crowd, while others deployed pepper spray. Some in the crowd threw things back at the vehicles, and several physical fights broke out. Some members of both sides were armed.

Biden’s message was largely met with support, though some conservative political pundits commented that the statement came too late, nearly 100 days after the protests over the death of George Floyd in May began.

His statement was posted just hours after Donald Trump Jr. called out Biden for being unwilling to stop his supporters from committing acts of brutality, as The Inquisitr previously reported.

Biden has denounced unlawful acts regardless of which political ideology the person committing it holds numerous times since the Black Lives Matter protests began to occasionally turn violent.

Portland has seen nearly 100 days of protests since the killing of Floyd, which as drawn criticism.