Claim:
A video circulating in late December 2025 authentically showed New York City residents throwing snowballs at ICE agents.
Rating:
In late December 2025, a video circulated online allegedly showing a group of New York City residents throwing dozens of snowballs at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
For example, one Instagram user shared the footage (archived) with overlaid text that read: “New Yorkers pelt ICE agents with Snow Balls.” The caption added: “New Yorkers letting ICE agents know that they are not welcomed in New York.”
Social media users shared the clip with similar captions, many stating that it occurred in New York City, on Bluesky (archived), Facebook, Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived), X (archived) and YouTube (archived). One Facebook user labeled (archived) the people throwing snowballs as “far left protesters” who were demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
In short, the video did not show New Yorkers pelting ICE agents with snowballs. The clip depicted supporters of Russian anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February 2024, throwing snowballs at police officers during a 2021 protest in Moscow. Therefore, we determined that the video had been miscaptioned.
On Jan. 23, 2021, British newspaper The Guardian posted the footage on its Guardian News YouTube channel with the title: “Russia protests: police pelted with snowballs in Moscow.” The text description read: “Tens of thousands of Alexei Navalny supporters have protested across Russia in one of the largest demonstrations against Vladimir Putin’s rule in the past decade.”
There were no signs the clip was generated using artificial intelligence software.
The Guardian video cited Russia’s independent news media outlet Mediazona as the clip’s source. Mediazona also posted the footage on X on Jan. 23, 2021 (archived). The caption, translated from Russian using DeepL, read: “Police officers were pelted with snowballs near the circus on Trubnaya Street, and they clearly lost their composure.” At the end of the video, a man could be heard saying inaudible words in a Russian-sounding accent.
Using Google Maps, it was possible to geolocate the video to Tsvetnoy Boulevard near Trubnaya Square.
Mediazona tracked the Navalny protests throughout the day in a live blog (archived). At 5:16 p.m. local time, the outlet reported: “Security forces began arresting protesters at Trubnaya Square, using batons, a Mediazona correspondent reports. The crowd responded with a hail of snowballs and pushed a group of riot police away from the memorial pillar.”
For further reading about rumors involving New York City, we previously investigated a video allegedly showing Muslims participating in a Fajr (dawn) prayer at 5 a.m. in the middle of a one-way street in Brooklyn.
Sources
‘https://x.com/Mediazzzona/status/1352988822263492610’. X (Formerly Twitter), https://x.com/mediazzzona/status/1352988822263492610. Accessed 30 Dec. 2025.
‘Street View of Trubnaya Ploshchad’ · Google Maps’. Street View of Trubnaya Ploshchad’ · Google Maps, https://www.google.com/maps/place/Trubnaya+Ploshchad’,+Moskva,+Russia/@55.7701398,37.621109,3a,90y,68.07h,87.81t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGZeenb1zXEBR8yD0duilYw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D2.19380153670852%26panoid%3DGZeenb1zXEBR8yD0duilYw%26yaw%3D68.07319217293583!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x46b54a69d109cef3:0x602ebf611528200b!8m2!3d55.7668307!4d37.622384!16s%2Fg%2F120l7smt?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTIwOS4wIKXMDSoKLDEwMDc5MjA2OUgBUAM%3D. Accessed 30 Dec. 2025.
“Russia Protests: Police Pelted with Snowballs in Moscow.” YouTube, Guardian News, 23 Jan. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zQpAxTq9CY.
“World Leaders Blame Putin for Alexei Navalny’s Death in a Russian Prison | Live Updates.” The Associated Press, 16 Feb. 2024, https://apnews.com/live/alexei-navalny-death-russia-updates.
‘Акции за Навального. Москва и Петербург’. Медиазона, https://zona.media/online/2021/01/23/navalny-msk-spb. Accessed 30 Dec. 2025.
