Fact Check: Viral Photo Of Woman Blocking ICE SUVs Is A Digital Edit Of 1989 "Tank Man" Image — Not Minneapolis

Claims that a viral photograph shows a woman in a pink shirt carrying black-and-white shopping bags and holding up a phone while standing in front of three black SUVs labeled "ICE" are false. The image is a digital manipulation modeled on the famous 1989 "Tank Man" photograph, not a recent scene in Minneapolis.

What The Claim Says

The circulated picture appears to show a lone woman confronting three dark SUVs marked "ICE," raising a phone as if filming or photographing the vehicles. One version of the image was posted on Bluesky and archived on January 10, 2026, with the caption: "No notes."

What We Found

Visual analysis shows that the viral image reproduces key elements of the original 1989 photograph taken by Jeff Widener for The Associated Press: the same streetlight, shadow patterns, and road markings appear in the altered image. Those exact visual cues indicate the image was digitally edited to replace the original tanks with SUVs and to insert a woman in contemporary clothing.

Why It's False

• The viral picture borrows distinct background features from Jeff Widener's June 5, 1989, photograph — known as the "Tank Man" image — making it a manipulated composite rather than a genuine, recent photograph from Minneapolis.
• No independent evidence ties the edited image to a real event involving ICE vehicles in Minneapolis: the provenance traces back to a social-media post that used the 1989 scene as its base.

About the Original Photo

Jeff Widener's AP photograph captured a lone person blocking a column of Type 59 tanks on Chang'an Boulevard (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests. Widener shot the image from the sixth floor of the Beijing Hotel, using an 800 mm lens at 1/30th of a second on June 5, 1989. The identity and fate of the individual in the original picture remain unknown.

Bottom Line: The viral image purporting to show a woman confronting ICE SUVs is a deliberate digital edit based on the 1989 "Tank Man" photograph and does not depict a real incident in Minneapolis.