For two months there have been daily protests against racial inequality and police brutality in Portland, Oregon.

Police repression has not been enough to stop the protests and so Trump has upped the ante, as he makes a bid to turn law and order into an election issue from which he can benefit, such is his cynicism.

But last night saw thousands of citizens on the streets as the movement widens not just as a protest for black lives but against the violent repression of the Fed forces, in the shape of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol agencies.

Both agencies have become heavily militarised over the years and are now being used against ordinary US citizens, in action lawmakers condemn as illegal.

Federal units have been operating as if in a war zone and using the tactics and operational procedures befitting of a full-blown dictatorship.

Protesters have been snatched and arrested by individuals dressed in unmarked camouflage suits. Eighteen now face serious Federal charges, raising the stakes further.

Portland citizens shot, gassed and clubbed by Trump stormtroopers

Peaceful citizens, including the city’s major, armed services veterans and a peaceful contingent of all-women protesters, have been tear-gassed and/or clubbed by the Feds.

As seen elsewhere in the US, the press has also been a frequent target of law enforcement bodies.

So-called non-lethal weapons that can in fact be lethal depending on how they are used, have been deployed with wild abandon by Federal forces acting as an out of control occupying force in the city.

Attempts to get judges to rule the deployment of the violent Fed troops illegal have failed so far.

The protest movement is overwhelmingly white, and that’s what probably riles Trump and his stormtroopers more than anything else.

Activists are attempting to organise for strikes in the city to drive out the Feds.

Cutting off all services to the Fed buildings in the city and the associated troops that were brought in under the pretence of protecting that property, could be a highly effective approach.

The people of Portland urgently need solidarity of the BLM movement and others from around the US and abroad.

Watch this space for further developments.