What’s happening in Portland right now is not peaceful, nor should it be considered a protest. Rioters broke into the Portland Police Association building on Saturday, set it on fire, and started similar dumpster fires across the city. They chanted, “Every city, every town, burn the precincts to the ground!” as they threw glass bottles, rocks, and paint at officers defending the city’s buildings.

Such destruction must be met with force. And it has been, thanks to the federal troops preventing rioters from taking over certain parts of the city the way they did in Seattle’s CHOP zone last month. Seattle’s experiment in lawlessness ended only after multiple nights of violence and the death of at least one person, a teenager. Only then did the city decide to put its foot down and allow law enforcement to do its job.