After 53 nights of protests in Portland, Sunday, a woman dubbed "Naked Athena," emerged and seemed to add an even more surreal element to the scene.
Wearing nothing more than a black face mask and a stocking cap, at around 1:45 a.m., out of the shadows, she emerged, pacing in a crosswalk in front heavily armed agents delicately posing and facing officers, while photographers snapped images.
A fellow protester, carrying a homemade shield, attempted to stand in front of her, and protect her, but she stepped from behind him and sat facing the officers with her legs splayed.
The woman stayed for about 15 minutes, according to the Los Angeles Times, then just as mysteriously as she'd appeared, she was gone.
The statement comes as some local and state leaders have voiced their displeasure with the presence of federal agents in the city that has seen protests every day since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly two months ago.
Speaking on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler said federal officers “are not wanted here. We haven’t asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave.”
Top leaders in the U.S. House said Sunday they were “alarmed” by the Trump administration’s tactics against protesters in Portland and other cities, including Washington, D.C. They've called on federal inspectors general investigate.