Two men were arrested on Monday after developer Paul McKee demanded they remove protest signs they had placed on vacant property he owns.

The unusual scene began on Monday morning after workers began removing the signs, which included biblical verses, from the property near the old Pruitt Igoe housing complex. The vacant lot is the site of a former church and the entire area is subject to eminent domain in an effort to build a $1.6 billion facility for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a federal spy agency.

The signs, which had been on the property for more than a month, were placed by protesters opposed to the use of eminent domain to take property in the area.

The sign removal effort preceded a site tour Monday afternoon. U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, hosted the tour for U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, which has oversight responsibility for the NGA. Schiff is a Democrat from the Los Angeles area.