Minneapolis authorities finally decided to act after anti-deportation activists set up an illegal road blockade — and only after a reporter was assaulted nearby. Police allowed the mob to control traffic on Cedar Avenue for more than a day, but once Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Jorge Ventura was harassed and shoved into a car by masked men while investigating the blockade, the city suddenly discovered the concept of “public safety.”

Footage showed the Minneapolis Police Department clearing traffic cones and homemade barriers that activists had used to redirect vehicles and block Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. The blockade first appeared Sunday and was still in place Monday, when Ventura was confronted and attacked by masked individuals for doing his job.

Hours after being asked how they planned to respond, police said public works crews, assisted by officers, removed the debris and roadblocks. Officials explained the action was taken because Cedar Avenue is a high-traffic, high-speed roadway and the blockade posed risks to neighborhoods and emergency vehicles. The city said the area was cleared by about 2:30 p.m. central time.

Days earlier, officers had already warned demonstrators at another blockade that they could be preventing emergency vehicles from passing through. The crowd brushed it off and complained about ICE “abducting people.” One defender of the blockade even mocked the officers as they walked away, proving once again that confidence and common sense don’t always travel together.

After the barricades were taken down, the same activist account that promoted them urged supporters to set up more. It said blockades are cheap, easy, and not meant to last around the clock, and encouraged building “momentum” with new ones. In other words, they weren’t embarrassed — they were recruiting.

What this episode really shows is the difference between law enforcement trying to keep roads safe and activists trying to run their own traffic department. Blocking public streets and attacking journalists isn’t protest — it’s chaos dressed up as virtue.

The good news is that the road was reopened, the barricades came down, and the city was reminded that enforcing the law still matters. When order finally shows up, even late, it sends a message: streets belong to the public, not to masked mobs playing revolution.