Salt Lake City, August 10 (RHC)-- In the U.S. state of Utah, Black Lives Matter protesters who broke windows and splashed red paint outside the District Attorney’s Office last momth in Salt Lake City face a maximum sentence of life in prison, after prosecutors charged them with felony criminal mischief and a gang enhancement.  The move to label protesters as gang members has drawn renewed attention to Utah’s 1990s-era street gangs law, which disproportionately targets communities of color.

Meanwhile, a U.S. district judge in Oregon has extended a restraining order against the U.S. Marshals Service and agents with the Department of Homeland Security, ordering them to stop attacking journalists and legal observers at Black Lives Matter protests in Portland.