Portland - A Line, a Step, Gunfire and “Lawful Enforcement”

The footage from Portland shows a country in a state of emergency. In front of the ICE building runs a blue line - it separates the agency’s property from public space. A boundary that no one intended to cross. The footage shows demonstrators, unarmed, holding signs and banners, keeping their distance. One person accidentally steps over the marking for a moment - she is later arrested. No one else approaches the line. And yet, shots are fired. ICE officers fire rubber bullets into the crowd. On the roof, armed men aim rifles at civilians as if they were in a war zone.

This blue line stands for more than just a few meters of concrete. It is a symbol of what is happening in the United States in 2025: the state draws boundaries - and crosses them itself. ICE no longer acts like an agency, but like a paramilitary unit that responds to any form of dissent with violence.

Only a few hours later, in the same place, the spectacle continued in another form. In pouring rain, more than thirty police officers arrived to clear the demonstrators’ tents. The city had announced the measure as a routine operation - “to restore sidewalk order.” But in truth, it was a signal: those who protest are meant to disappear. The scene was chaotic, accompanied by thunder and lightning. As officers took down tarps and canopies, people helped each other save their belongings - a gas canister, medical supplies, masks. A woman in a wheelchair was pushed aside together with her canopy. Across the street, right-wing streamers filmed and cheered as the tents came down.

The police spoke of “lawful enforcement,” of violations of sidewalk regulations, alcohol bans, and crossings outside designated areas. In reality, it looked like a message: every movement, every breath, every wrong word can be criminalized.

“It’s not stopping us from protesting,” said Pamela Hemphill, who once supported Trump and was convicted in 2021 for her participation in the storming of the Capitol. Today she stands on the other side - against the same power she once defended.

In Portland, it was not the law that was defended, but an idea of control that has lost all restraint. A line that hardly anyone crossed became a pretext for violence. And a city that calls itself free cleared away the last piece of that freedom on the very same night.