MINNEAPOLIS — A new grass-roots effort to track and slow down federal agents in the Twin Cities has turned into a game of cat and mouse — organized residents erect makeshift blockades to monitor the vehicles on their streets, and police officers tear them down.

One such blockade, constructed along the busy commercial corridor of Lyndale Avenue in south Minneapolis, was quickly taken apart by police on Feb. 7.

“Thank you, Minneapolis, for using your collective voice during this time,” the city wrote in a recent newsletter. “Let’s keep our streets open at the same time.”

Blockade organizers say they want to slow down any federal agents that may be rolling through and keep track of their whereabouts by checking for license plates associated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A few blocks away from the dismantled site on Lyndale, in a roundabout on Pillsbury Avenue, a small group of neighbors had been able to stay for much of the day Saturday — even after multiple conversations with police — by confining themselves to the island in the center of the street.

In the raised circle, residents gathered behind a banner that said “Join Us, Block ICE” and tended a small fire in a metal fire pit Saturday afternoon. Drivers honked in support as they made turns, demonstrators handed out snacks to passing cars and one motorist rolled down their window to ask if the gathering wanted trash hauled in to block the street.

“We are not blocking the roadway!” Jonah Johnson, one of the gathered neighbors, said. Johnson said he had looked out his window from down the street earlier in the day and spontaneously decided to join what he called a “neighborhood meeting.”

“Minnesotans protect each other, Minnesotans keep each other safe, Minnesotans keep each other warm, and we’re out here, doing just that,” he said.

Saturday’s gatherings were dubbed an “ICE block(ade) party” in postings on the Instagram page of Minneapolis Spring, an organizing group that encouraged barricades large and small to slow traffic.

But groups cannot physically obstruct traffic, according to Minneapolis officials. The city took down at least five barricades just on Saturday.

“Keeping streets clear is a critical part of the city’s responsibility to protect lives, property and neighborhoods,” Minneapolis spokesman Brian Feintech wrote in an email. “Blocked streets and makeshift checkpoints are serious concerns for police, fire and emergency medical responders because it can delay response times and restrict access for their vehicles.”

In St. Paul, a blockade was reported near Hamline Park Plaza, though police said they have not received reports of such obstructions.

St. Paul police spokeswoman Nikki Muehlhausen said the city will clear any reported blockades to “ensure that our community has unfettered access to their homes,” and to allow first responders and public workers through city streets.

Some barricades have proven resilient.

One blockage, at E. 35th Street and Bloomington Avenue near Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, was cleared twice by police, according to Minneapolis Spring.

A video posted on Reddit showed Minneapolis Police Department officers hauling away pallets, a shopping cart and a loveseat that had been amassed in the center of the barricade.

But later on Saturday afternoon the barricade had returned, constructed for the third time out of pallets, a dumpster and other objects. Some present held anti-ICE signs while one person played an ocarina, a small wind instrument, near the center of the pile.

About a dozen people gathered around a bonfire to keep warm, with the words scrawled across the pit: “ICE OUT.”

(Kyeland Jackson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed reporting.)

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