"There were police everywhere. They stood at the bridges, at factory entrances, at public buildings - stopping people at random, searching briefcases, shopping bags, pocketbooks. And no one complained at this arbitrary treatment. No one protested. The lack of protest was part of the dreadful solvent that hung over the city like a poison-filled smog.
"In sharp contrast to the silence of the people was the voice of the government. It was everywhere. On the radio, on loudspeakers, on billboards."
This is from God's Smuggler, a book by a man who used to smuggle Bibles into Communist countries, describing his first impression of East Germany. It's not quite on the nose for what's happening here and now, but it's a good deal closer than I'd like. The people are muffled and the state is amplified.