Politics Today: News, Analysis & Debate Across the Spectrum
We’ve seen some police in blue cities sometimes take a restrained/very hands off approach to the anti-ICE activists. Often, they don’t suffer any consequences for actions in which they might be involved.
In liberal areas, it’s not always clear that even if people are arrested, they will face real charges. And the cities don’t always act to check such actions. In Portland, for example, things got so out of control that a resident sued the city to enforce the noise ordinances, so residents could sleep. She just wanted the city to do something so she could have some peace.
READ MORE: Portland Anti-ICE Mob ‘Finds Out’ After ‘Vigilante’ Visit and Lawsuit Against the City
Pure Gold: Portland Anti-ICE Characters Get Trolled by ‘Trump’ Big Time
But on Thursday, the police in Covington, Kentucky didn’t hold back in responding to anti-ICE folks as they moved from Ohio into their town and state on a bridge.
The Covington Police Department responded to the protest on the Roebling Suspension Bridge, which they said “obstructed traffic and created safety concerns for both demonstrators and the public.” To avoid traffic disruptions, protesters were asked by the police to leave the bridge and move to the sidewalk, but according to police, officers were met with “open hostility and threatening behavior.”
That’s when things deteriorated, and the activists had some major unhappy moments on the bridge.
Warning for graphic language:
Officers clashed with and arrested anti-ICE protesters on a bridge located on the state line between Ohio and Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/UFaPhYOuwZ
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 19, 2025
You can hear protesters screaming their heads off as a man and a woman are taken to the ground by the police. The man was hit multiple times.
They got questions about the action from the media. Covington Police Chief Brian Valenti defended the use of force, alleging that the man had hit an officer’s pepper ball gun and was holding onto the bridge railing. You also see video of what they said was an SUV being blocked on the bridge. He said they were told, several times, to get off the road.
“So, it’s a very dangerous, precarious situation.”
Covington police are defending their use of force against protesters on the Roebling Bridge, releasing footage of the incident at a press conference on Friday: https://t.co/2IoyWTIKtI pic.twitter.com/epEUlPwQnB
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) July 19, 2025
He said the situation on the bridge was dangerous and they would be reviewing more video on the matter.
The people arrested faced a variety of charges.
At least 13 protesters were arrested during a Thursday night anti-ICE protest that resulted in a march on the Ohio River bridge connecting Covington and Cincinnati. The Covington Police Department charged protesters with rioting, unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and other misdemeanor charges. [….]
Rioting charges for protesters are considered a felony, with typical sentences of up to five years in prison.
It’s likely to be a little different in the pursuit of the case than it would be in Portland.
Read the full article from the original source
