Two protesters were detained at the National Portrait Gallery yesterday for showing David Wojnarowicz's film "A Fire in My Belly," after it was removed by museum officials last week. The protesters said they signed documents banning them from Smithsonian property after they were removed from the premises.

Mike Blasenstein says he showed the four-minute version of the film at the entrance of the Hide/Seek exhibit around 1 p.m. yesterday on an iPad hung around his neck, while distributing literature about the art. Within 10 minutes, museum security had detained him and Michael Dax Iacovone, who filmed the encounter.

"I want people to have the choice to see this art that these politicians and pressure groups say we shouldn't be allowed to see," says Blasenstein. "It's about this guy being silenced again, 20 years after his death."

"[Security] was accusing us of manufacturing something to put on YouTube," says Blasenstein, who has never before participated in civil disobedience. "I said, 'If you had let me stand here 'til closing, that was really what I wanted to do.'"

Blasenstein says that after he and Iacovone were detained in a stairwell, security asked them to leave. When they refused, Metropolitan Police were summoned. Rather than face arrest, Blasenstein and Iacovone signed documents barring them from setting foot on Smithsonian property again. Blasenstein says he was not given a copy of the documents when he asked for one, and plans to file a FOIA request for them.

Bethany Bentley, publicist for the National Gallery, says that the decision to bar the protesters from the Smithsonian came from MPD, not the gallery. Police were unable to confirm the incident, and said they had no further information at this time. This story will be updated.

Blasenstein and Iacovone's actions are the fourth protest of the Smithsonian's decision to occur since the portrait was removed. Last week, Adam Griffith and Adrian Parsons picketed in front of the gallery. Transformer Gallery showed the banned film in its storefront window and gallery, and on Thursday organized a silent protest march to the gallery and the Capitol. During that march, Parsons projected the video on the Portrait Gallery's facade.