ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol placed three people in handcuffs on Sunday during a protest near the crosswalk outside of the former Pulse nightclub.

According to a news release, a “Chalk For Pride” event was scheduled for 6 p.m. at South Orange Avenue and West Esther Street to protest the removal of “Pride crosswalks” and the “abuse of laws that threaten our freedom of expression.”

Protesters have been at the crosswalk every day for more than a week since the Florida Department of Transportation removed the rainbow crosswalk at S Orange Avenue and W Esther Street.

On Friday night — Orestes Sebastian Suarez, 29 — was arrested after being accused of using chalk to color the bottom of his shoe before crossing the road, leaving footprints. Suarez faced a charge of defacing a traffic device ($1,000 or more) and was held overnight on a $5,000 bond until a judge on Saturday afternoon found no probable cause for the arrest and said that Suarez would be released.

[VIDEO: New signs at Pulse, 1 arrested as Florida steps up rainbow fight]

Suarez’s attorney, Blake Simons, made a probable-cause challenge that the state made no objection to

Orlando installed the rainbow crosswalk in 2017 after getting the OK from FDOT when an online petition signed by more than 2,000 people requested it to honor both the memory of the victims and the struggle of the survivors from the Pulse shooting.

FDOT approved the crosswalk in 2017 as a tribute to the 49 people killed in the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse.

The crosswalk that has recently been painted over, colored in, and painted over again is now black, white, and under supervision by law enforcement.

[VIDEO: Law enforcement monitoring Pulse crosswalk]

When asked about the removal of the crosswalk, and others across the state, Gov. DeSantis said last week that this was not an issue about content, but that the street art “got out of hand.”

[VIDEO: Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses controversy over rainbow crosswalk near Pulse]

“The legislature passed a change in law recently which said there’s no street art allowed,” DeSantis said. “The Department of Transportation put out guidance recently, a couple months ago, reminding everybody. And this has been addressed statewide.”

New signs appeared at the intersection overnight into Saturday that read, “DEFACING SIDEWALK PROHIBITED.”

News 6 reached out to the FHP to ask what charges the three people placed into handcuffs may face, but we have not heard back as of this writing.

This is a developing story. Check back with News 6 for the latest updates.