WASHINGTON - Police in Portland, Oregon, have declared a riot after protesters breached a fence surrounding a court building where federal officers have been stationed during ongoing protests against police brutality and the presence of militarised law enforcement.

Protesters in Portland have brought down a steel fence around a courthouse after days of trying.

Federal agents fired teargas and “non-lethal projectiles” to drive back thousands of demonstrators surrounding the courthouse to demand Donald Trump withdraw the paramilitaries.

The Guardian says Portland is the focal point of nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.

The deployment of federal officers to American cities has renewed protests, with demands for their removal.

Explosives are used against feds and cops in Seattle, Portland and Atlanta while a Black Lives Matter protester is shot dead in Austin on night of nationwide unrest - as angry Trump vents on Twitter after deploying federal agents in bid to quell violence