On Wednesday, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States. Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, using a Bible that once belonged to Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall.

Biden was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts on a Biden family Bible.

 

After he was sworn in as the 46th president, Biden gave an approximately 20-minute speech describing Inauguration Day as “democracy’s day.”

 

Biden went over the perils of the coronavirus and the devastating effect it has had on American lives and businesses.

He said, “To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity, unity.”

He added: “And so today at this time in this place, let’s start afresh, all of us. Let’s begin to listen to one another again. Hear one another see one another, show respect to one another. Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.”

Many individuals heeded Biden’s call for unity, others did not.

Soon after Biden’s inauguration, Antifa demonstrators took to the streets in Oregon and vandalized the Oregon Democratic Party offices, along with businesses and other buildings.

Police arrested eight people between the ages of 18 and 38, some of whom were armed with knives, the department said. They are: Kyle Romstad, 22; Kaiave Douvia, 22; Nicole Aria Rose, 25; Darrell Kimberlin, 31; Jean V. Paris, 18; Alyssa Hartley Davis, 18; Austin N. Nuchraska, 25; and Davis Alan Beeman, 38, KOIN 6 News reported.

Windows of the building were smashed and the building was covered with graffiti that read “Breonna Taylor deserves justice” and “F — — Biden.”

The Oregonian published a photo of members of the crowd holding signs that read “We don’t want Biden, we want revenge! For police murders, imperialist wars and fascist massacres,” and “We are ungovernable.”

Federal officers eventually were forced to use tear gas in order to disperse the protestors.

The Democratic Party of Oregon later released a statement on the damage done to their headquarters.

“We’re frustrated and disappointed about the damage done to our Democratic Party of Oregon Headquarters in Portland this afternoon,” the statement read. “We’re thankful that none of our staff were in the building at the time. This is not the first time our building has been vandalized during the past year — none of the prior incidents have deterred us from our important work to elect Democrats up and down the ballot, and this one will be no different.”

“None of this should take away from the fact that today is a joyous and momentous day for America as we celebrate the Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. President Biden is already starting the work to build back better, with more than a dozen critical Executive Orders on climate, pandemic response, immigration, racial equality, and more. We at the Democratic Party of Oregon are resolute and determined to do everything in our power to support the Biden/Harris administration, and to help Oregon and America recover from the pandemic stronger than before.”

A crowd estimated by reporters between 100 to 200 protestors later marched on Portland’s ICE building, calling for the agency to be abolished. People were seen damaging the building by throwing rocks and eggs and vandalizing it with graffiti, police said.

Shortly after 9 pm, officers arrived and released munitions and tear gas to dispel the demonstrators.

(Contributing journalist, Allegra Nokaj) (Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)