A possible showdown is brewing in Sussex County over Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive orders ending public gatherings in New Jersey amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The president of the Skylands Tea Party, William J. Hayden, said the local police chief warned he would be arrested if he went ahead with a protest at the county-owned Newton Green on Saturday.

If Hayden moves forward anyway — he was noncommittal in an interview Thursday — it might be the first protest in New Jersey targeting the directives from Murphy, a Democrat. Protests against stay-at-home orders have taken place in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina and Utah, according to CNN.

Murphy has closed state and county parks and banned public gatherings in an attempt to the limit the spread of the coronavirus — which as of Thursday afternoon had claimed 3,518 lives in New Jersey, including 26 at a nursing home four miles from the Newton Green.

Hayden told NJ Advance Media that he had planned to gather with 10 to 20 others on the Newton Green, all standing at least 6 feet apart, while live-streaming a reading of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He said he opposes closing the parks, in addition to other restrictions imposed by Murphy.

“Where does it end?” Hayden asked.

Murphy was asked Thursday what he might say to any protesters in New Jersey. The governor said his administration is “making decisions as best we can based on fact, data, science.”

“Do we always get it right? I’m sure we don’t always get it right. We’re trying like heck," Murphy told reporters at his daily coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “This virus spreads when we let our guard down."

While Hayden said he had received a permit, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, to use the Newton Green on Saturday for a Patriots Day-themed event, county officials reportedly cited Murphy’s executive orders in reiterating that it is closed to the public.

Hayden said Newton’s police chief, Robert Osborn, threatened him with arrest if he went ahead with the gathering.

Asked whether it will still happen, Hayden was coy.

“We’ve got fun planned. We’ll leave it at that,” Hayden said.

Osborn declined comment on Thursday night.

Hayden was similarly ambiguous on his Facebook page. After posting photos of the taped-off Newton Green on Thursday and writing, “we weren’t going there anyway morons,” he responded to one disappointed commenter by writing, “there is still something planned .. you think they stopped me ... its county property.”

The Sussex County prosecutor’s office, though, is aware of the possible protest and offered an implicit rebuke.

In a statement Thursday that First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller said was prompted by “hints on social media” of what might be happening, it thanked residents for their “adherence to the governor’s executive orders” and asserted that doing so was saving lives.

“Projections show that we are nearing the apex of this crisis and, with your continued cooperation, we will slow the spread of this deadly virus. We need all of you. Your actions now, and in the coming weeks, could save the life of someone you know or someone you may never meet,” read the statement from the prosecutor’s office.

Murphy expressed a similar sentiment, telling reporters, “This virus spreads when we let our guard down.”

“We’re in a moment in time ... and the way we get through it is we stay home and we stay away from each other," Murphy said.

Hayden said it made no sense to close county and state parks, a decision that has drawn pushback from some Republican lawmakers, while letting other locations remain open.

“If you have people in close proximity in a store, why not allow them in a park,” Hayden said.

Hayden is a construction and maintenance technician for the New Jersey Department of Transportation, but said he isn’t worried about any blowback.

“They can’t fire me,” Hayden said.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.