guillotine

"I am on a four-year walk to the guillotine," says another, anticipating defeat at the next general election.

He provided the testimony that led to a series of arrests—then interrogations and torture, followed in most cases by a final march to the gallows, firing squad or guillotine.

The Sept. 1 protest had “little to no energy,” according to an internal Portland police summary, before federal officers dispersed the crowd to collect a prop guillotine that had been brought.

Stripping a prince of his title has a whiff of the guillotine, a swift transforming blow.

“It’s not like the guillotine is coming out,” said Roberts, the retired banker, who spoke via Zoom from a vacation in Paris.