As many Portlanders return to work Monday after a relatively sedate and rainy weekend of marches and protests, the city awaits word on whether the National Guard will be allowed to deploy to city streets.

It was a weekend marked by occasional clashes with law enforcement, frequent dancing in the street – and nudity, as hundreds of people took to two wheels Sunday for an “emergency” World Naked Bike Ride.

Here’s a look at where things stand, and what happened to get us there.

Where things stand

President Donald Trump wants to deploy the National Guard to Portland and has been pushing for it since September. That’s on hold, at least temporarily, as judges in the federal judiciary review a lawsuit by the state of Oregon and the city of Portland.

The president says protests outside of South Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building have gone too far, border on insurrection and need to be reined in.

The protests that have ebbed and flowed outside that building for months are frequently small by the scale of Portland activism.

Oregon and Portland leaders also note the demonstrations are protected by the First Amendment right to speech and assembly. They argue there’s no need for federal intervention and worry the National Guard’s arrival could escalate tensions.

Those differing views are now playing out in policy debates, in presidential Cabinet meetings, across social media and in the courts.

What’s happened over the past week?

Kristi Noem visits Portland

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Portland on Tuesday to visit the ICE building that has for months been the site of protests against Trump’s immigration policies. While in Oregon, she met with Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and city police Chief Bob Day.

Kotek described the meeting as cordial but direct, and told OPB’s “Think Out Loud” that she asked Noem to ensure federal officers follow state laws around tear gas use and crowd control weapons, including limiting use in residential neighborhoods, where people who are not participating in protests can be affected.

Noem, who was filmed on the Portland ICE facility’s rooftop observing a protester in a chicken costume, later called Oregon leaders “disingenuous.” At a White House summit Wednesday, Noem accused Oregon and Portland officials of covering up terrorism.

National Guard troops stand ready

National Guard troops from California have been at Camp Withycombe in Clackamas since Oct. 4, when Trump ordered their deployment. Their mobilization followed the president’s earlier decision to federalize Oregon’s National Guard, which was briefly put on hold by U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit partially reversed that decision Wednesday. A three-judge panel for the court found the troops should remain federalized, which is to say, they report to the president and not the governors of Oregon and California.

But a restraining order Immergut issued to prevent those troops from being deployed in Portland is still in place, at least for now. That could change, depending on how the appeals court rules on arguments heard Thursday, when judges appeared skeptical of arguments against troop deployment. It’s not clear when that ruling will come down.

The fight over National Guard deployment is playing out in other Democratic-run cities across the country. On Thursday, a judge in Illinois temporarily blocked troop deployment in Chicago.

• WATCH: Ninth Circuit Court hears Trump administration’s appeal Thursday to deploy National Guard troops in Oregon

A politicized understanding of the facts

As dueling narratives continued to play out over the past week, it became clear that the divide between the Trump administration and Oregon officials was not just a dispute over immigration policy; it reflects a politicized understanding of the facts.

Right-wing social media influencers have become regular observers of protests at Portland’s ICE facility, with some making visits to the site and others boosting their political views via remote video feeds.

They’ve shaped Trump’s understanding of Portland protests, often with the support of an administration that has allowed them to embed with law enforcement. Meanwhile, the government has not granted similar access to local media like OPB or The Oregonian/OregonLive.

As national leaders of the Republican Party have portrayed Portland as a safe harbor for extremism, many Oregon GOP lawmakers have remained silent on Trump’s push for National Guard deployment.

Democratic lawmakers and late-night TV comedians, meanwhile, have responded with mockery and bewilderment. In a post to social media Sunday, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden stood next to a Southeast Portland neighborhood pumpkin vine. “Donald Trump says our city is so scary. Oooh -- pumpkins,” he said with a smile on his face.

A segment on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” last week juxtaposed video of dancing protesters in inflatable costumes against statements by Noem, Trump and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller describing Portland as dangerous.

When the protests get weird, the weird start protesting

Inflatable costumes, a puppy parade and a man in a chicken suit all have been hallmarks of protesters who have doubled down on the city’s “Keep Portland Weird” ethos.

Inflatable frog costumes seemed especially popular, with people on Reddit offering to ship the get-ups to the protest movement’s front lines, and illustrations of a protesting frog draped in a U.S. flag circulating on social media.

Pouring rain on Sunday was not enough to drown out the whimsy of the protest movement. Hundreds of protesters gathered for what had been dubbed an emergency World Naked Bike Ride to protest the “militarization” of the city.

Even government officials joined in on the demonstration, with heads of the Metro Council showing bare shoulders on social media Sunday as they asked demonstrators to stay safe.

The weather partially dampened demonstrators’ enthusiasm for nudity, and many were partially or fully clothed for the ride, though others went topless, bottomless or wore see-through plastic ponchos to stay dry.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/13/naked-bike-ride-protest-caps-week-portland-demonstrations/