This article was written in the aftermath of the deadly federal enforcement actions in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Renée Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January 2026, and where subsequent protests and tensions led to the withdrawal of a large portion of the policing deployment.
The withdrawal of police forces is often presented as a gesture of moderation. But when state violence comes to an end only because the same person who authorised it decides to stop it, this is not an act of balance. It is a more subtle form of authoritarianism.
The problem is not only that excessive power has been granted to a security apparatus. It is that this power is not restrained by laws, courts, or independent mechanisms, but by the individual will of the person who unleashed it. The message is clear: limits are not structural, they are personal.
In a state governed by the rule of law, the end of institutional violence should never appear as a concession. When it is instead perceived as a contingent choice by a leader, rights cease to be rights and become temporary privileges. They are not guaranteed; they are tolerated.
This dynamic produces a precise psychological effect. First, the extent of power is displayed. Then there is a partial retreat. Society feels relief, and that very relief becomes a tool of control. Violence does not need to be repeated to remain effective: it is enough to know that it can return.
When order is restored not by principles but by personal discretion, institutions are weakened. And a democracy in which security depends on the mood of an individual is not a stable democracy, but a truce.
The real danger is not only the use of force, but the fact that someone exists who can turn it on or off at will. Even when they choose to turn it off.
(Cover photo: The Colossus, painting attributed to Francisco de Goya)
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Eirini Lavrentiadou is an actress and singer, born in Thessaloniki in 1992. She lives in Florence, where she trained at the city’s Theatre Academy and the Fiesole School of Music. She has performed in classical Greek and European plays, worked with international directors and companies, and appeared in concerts ranging from opera to jazz. She contributes to Florence Daily News as a writer.