Politics

Frog v ICE at Portland antifa protests sends social media into frenzy

A demonstrator dressed in an inflatable frog costume confronts law enforcement officers during a protest outside of the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) headquarters in south Portland, Oregon, U.S.

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

US president Donald Trump’s dislike of antifa – short for antifascist – is well-documented, to the extent that in late September, the Republican declared the leaderless movement a “domestic terrorist organisation” and “terrorist threat”.

And as antifa continues to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE, for short), the federal agency has found itself up against an unusual opponent: an antifascist frog.

We’re not joking.

The controversial agency’s building in Portland, Oregon has been the subject of nightly protests over Trump’s immigration policies, so much so that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday (3 October) that the president was ordering defense secretary Pete Hegseth to “provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland”.

Except, a day later, a federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the National Guard’s deployment in Portland.

And to make matters worse, ICE officers on the ground have had to contend with a person in an inflatable frog costume taking the mick out of them.

The unusual demonstrator has since gone viral online, with podcaster Ed Krassenstein asking: “Is this really what you guys consider to be ‘domestic terrorists?’”:

“Only in Portland can a person in a frog costume scare ICE,” commented another, alongside a video of agents moving away from the antifa frog as it walked towards them:

One Twitter/X user tweeted that the frog had ‘scared’ the agents “into submission”:

However, it wasn’t all silliness, as footage emerged of the protester getting pepper sprayed in their breathing circle:

This sparked a fresh wave of condemnation of ICE, with media organisation The Tennessee Holler writing that it was “more evidence of which direction the violence is really going”:

Joe Gallina, of the progressive platform ‘Call to Activism’, tweeted that putting pepper spray in the hole is a “major health risk”:

But don’t worry, as journalist Oliya Scootercaster went on to tweet footage of the frog being back to their twerking, dancing self:

Oh, and someone in a chicken costume has also been spotted at the site:

Truly ‘ribbeting’ journalism, this, we’re sure you’ll agree…

Why not read…

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)