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A Lincoln High School student was hit and bloodied in the back of the head with a wooden sign-holder during a gun violence protest Wednesday, after he staged a counter-demonstration in favor of the Second Amendment, police and school officials said.

Sgt. Kevin Allen, a spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau, said the 15-year-old was treated at the downtown Portland protest for a cut on his head and later received further medical treatment. In a message sent Thursday, Lincoln High School principal Peyton Chapman wrote that the student eventually went to the emergency room and got stitches but was able to return to school the following day.

Allen said the suspected assailants left the scene and were not immediately located.

The descriptions were not very detailed, but its safe to say they were young people, Allen wrote in an email Friday. He said police dont know whether the attacker or attackers were enrolled in Portland Public Schools.

About 175 Lincoln High students walked out of school on Wednesday to take part in the protests, joining students at other middle and high schools around Portland. It was part of a national action after a series of school shootings this year, including one at a private Christian school outside of Nashville, Tennessee that left three children and three adults dead.

Lincolns principal wrote in a message to staff that several other students quickly intervened to try to stop the fight and that she did not believe the assailant was a Lincoln student.

In her communication, Chapman acknowledged that there were rumors about the incident and added, The bottom line is all students deserve to be safe from any form of hate speech and/or physical or verbal attack.

There have been six gun-related incidents near Portland-area high school campuses so far this school year, including two near Jefferson High School, one near Cleveland High School, two near Franklin High School, and one at a Troutdale park adjacent to Reynolds High School. Additionally, two Portland high school students were shot and killed over spring break in a daylight shooting in North Portland.

Leaders of Portland Public Schools have been holding focus groups on whether to bring back school resource officers, after removing them in June of 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. A proposal is expected early next month.

Julia Silverman, @jrlsilverman, jsilverman@oregonian.com

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Portland high school student demonstrating in favor of 2nd Amendment injured at gun violence protest - OregonLive