"Portlanders showed up this year, and they showed up in costume. Mercury reporters, photographers, and contributors were there in person to capture moments and bring readers the story-be-it a show you should not miss, an event tens of thousands attended, or an action that illustrated violent attacks on civilian protesters by federal agents. Maybe its odd to put all of those in the same sentence, but the Portland Mercury has its eyes on the city, and the city contains multitudes."
"During one of the afternoon's violent barrages, a projectile from the federal agents injured an emergency room nurse named Vincent Hawkins. Hawkins had been speaking on a bullhorn, later telling the Mercury, 'I doubt I was there more than even five minutes before I got shot.' Images of Hawkins injury-even covered by gauze-were deemed too graphic for most social media platforms, which is a problem when so many readers get their news from platforms that won't show them the fragility of human bodies."
Local photojournalists and contributors attended multiple 2025 Portland events to document civic life and unrest through photography. On June 14 roughly 50,000 people gathered downtown for a "No Kings" rally tied to nationwide protests coordinated for a single day. A production manager new to staff volunteered to help capture the expected large demonstration. A smaller group later marched two miles to an ICE facility in South Portland, where federal agents deployed smoke, tear gas, and impact munitions. During one barrage a projectile struck emergency room nurse Vincent Hawkins, and images of his gauze-covered injury were removed as too graphic from many social platforms, limiting public visibility of bodily fragility.
Read at Portland Mercury
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