In the thick of the Friday, Jan. 30, dinner rush at Marché, cooks and servers felt their eyes burn.
“The air was getting a little prickly,” said Jessica Blaine, the downtown restaurant’s CEO, who got an unsettling message from managers that night. “There was something in the air, both literally and figuratively.”
Across the street at the Eugene Federal Building, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers threw tear gas canisters and smoke grenades at protesters — and a chemical fog rolled across the plaza and over about 10 surrounding blocks…