‘Abolish ICE’ Protester Warned by Officer, Then Arrested After Saying, “I’m Going to Block His Sign”

An activist protesting with an "Abolish ICE" sign is getting tons of attention online after a video of their being arrested went viral.

In the clip, the protester, who is wearing a mask, stands in the path of a man they refer to as "Sidewalk Steve," preventing him from walking down the sidewalk with his sign. According to Patch, the man is a parental rights activist and an opponent of gender-affirming care.

The Activist Called the Man's Sign ‘Hate Speech'

The minutes-long video shows the protester repeatedly standing in front of the man, who never appears on camera. At one point, they can be heard complaining that, "Not a single person can just call me by my pronouns."

Moments later, a police officer approaches after the man tells him, "This person's been blocking me from going up the sidewalk for a while now."

The officer tells the protester, "You gotta let him go." They responded that the man's "sign needs to go."

As the officer continues telling them that they need to let the man pass, they insist they’re "not letting that sign go through" because "there's no reason for it to be here."

They repeatedly call the sign "hate speech," adding, "I'm going to be up his ass until he gets rid of that sign."

The officer then explains that the man is allowed to walk with his sign, but this time gives them a stark warning of what is to come if they don’t. "You're going to have to leave him alone unless you want to get arrested," the officer tells them.

When they ask, "For what?" two officers tell them they could be arrested under disorderly conduct laws.

The protestor then steps to the side, holds up their own sign, and asks if they can stand there instead. The officer tells them no, explaining that they "can't impede people from walking on the sidewalk." At this point, the officer is beginning to get frustrated with the protestor, and tells them, "I'm going to give you one more chance."

Before he can finish, the protester interrupts him, saying, "I'm going to block his sign."

They continue walking down the sidewalk before stopping again and telling officers, "He can move all he wants. I'm going to block the sign."

After they repeatedly say they intend to continue blocking the man's sign, three officers move in, tell them they’re under arrest, and take them to the ground. They remove the sign from their hands and place them in custody as they can be heard saying, "Let go of me," and insisting, "I didn't do anything."

According to Patch, the protestor is a 37-year-old resident of Milford, New Hampshire and the incident occurred during a "No Kings" protest in March 2026.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the circumstances surrounding the incident beyond publicly available video and reporting by Patch.