Protest disrupts light rail service at Portland airport

PORTLAND — Several dozen people protested in and around Portland International Airport on Saturday after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning legal U.S. residents and visa-holders from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States for at least 90 days.

The protest briefly disrupted light rail service at the airport as demonstrators hoisted signs that read “Portland Coffee Is From Yemen” and chanted anti-Trump slogans.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that the demonstrators carried signs and chanted: “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here” and “No ban no wall America is for us all.”

Trump’s order immediately suspended a program that last year resettled to the U.S. roughly 85,000 people displaced by war, political oppression, hunger and religious prejudice.

He indefinitely blocked all those fleeing Syria, where a civil war has displaced millions of people, and imposed a 90-day ban on entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim majority nations.

Hundreds of protesters also converged at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York where 12 refugees were detained Saturday under the order.

Several other protests unfolded at different times around Portland on Saturday.

One march was to promote racial justice and equality. Another was to protest an oil pipeline in North Dakota.

Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson said there were no arrests.

The city made national news after Trump’s election for protests that ended in dozens of arrests and damaged property.