Protester filmed screaming 'I hate Ted Cruz,' tearing up signs in Houston neighborhood

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Ted Cruz protester goes on rampage, screams 'I hate Ted Cruz'

Caught on camera: A man in a Houston neighborhood went on a rampage and ripped up Ted Cruz campaign signs while shouting, 'I hate Ted Cruz!'

A vandal screaming “I hate Ted Cruz” was caught on camera tearing up the Texas senator’s campaign signs in a Houston neighborhood while being confronted by a pro-Cruz resident.

“I’m just gonna take them down,” the man calmly says at the start of the video as he begins going after the Cruz campaign yard signs in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas.

Alfredo Ramos, who posted the encounter on social media, can be heard telling the man that the sign was his property.

He told Fox News that the incident started after the man in the video cheered on a homeless person for tearing down his sign and "threw a small American flag on the street."

"As I went to reinstall the sign and flag, the guy decided to walk across the street from our local coffee shop to initiate the confrontation," Ramos continued. "This culture of intolerance and behavior of aggressive confrontation is getting out of hand. What I want to remind people is that your vote is your voice. No need to go nuts."

"This culture of intolerance and behavior of aggressive confrontation is getting out of hand."

— Alfredo Ramos

The vandal then backed off and went for a sign across the road. Ramos warned the man against destroying his neighbor’s property, saying he’s a “gun owner.”

“Oh. I’m a gun owner, too,” the man replied. “If you guys shoot me over that, that would be great. That would be really, like — an appropriate response,” he says as he goes to snatch another pro-Cruz yard sign.

“You know, I have about a hundred of these; I’m about to put more out,” Ramos said.

“Well, all right. I’ll feel better about them,” the vandal says as he begins destroying the signs. He then suddenly turns around and screams: “I hate Ted Cruz! I hate Ted Cruz! I hate Ted Cruz!"

A vandal (pictured) screaming “I hate Ted Cruz” took down the Texas senator’s campaign signs in a Houston neighborhood and was confronted by a pro-Cruz resident who capturing the bizarre encounter. (Alfredo)

The Texas Republican has been the target of angry protesters in recent months. On Wednesday, he was confronted by two women at an airport over his vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The women accused him of "putting a sexual assaulter on the court" and shouting “Shame on you Ted Cruz!” as he walked off. “Thank you for expressing your First Amendment rights," Cruz told the protesters.

CRUZ CONFRONTED BY 2 PROTESTERS OVER HIS VOTE TO CONFIRM KAVANAUGH: REPORT

Last month, activists stormed a Washington DC restaurant and shouted “we believe survivors” as the Texas senator was sitting with his wife.

One of the videos from the incident shows Cruz struggling to escape the hostile crowd amid chants and taunts. “Excuse me, let my wife through,” Cruz is heard saying in the video.

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Ramos continues to follow the vandal to the local nearby coffee shop, saying that despite living “here for fifteen years” he hasn’t witnessed anything like that. “He just went nuts. Tore up our signs.”

The man then fires back at the pro-Cruz resident, telling him that he has lived in the neighborhood longer than him and that Cruz doesn’t belong here.

“I tore up his Ted Cruz signs, ‘cuz I’ve lived here for 26 years, grew up here, you moved here; you moved to Montrose,” the man said. “You’re not from Montrose. Ted Cruz does not belong in f---ing Montrose. Go to the Woodlands.”

"I tore up his Ted Cruz signs, ‘cuz I’ve lived here for 26 years, grew up here, you moved here; you moved to Montrose ...  Ted Cruz does not belong in f---ing Montrose. Go to the Woodlands."

— The man captured on video destroying pro-Cruz yard signs in Texas.

The Texas statute prohibits anyone from stealing, defacing or destroying any campaign sign on private property. The culprits could be punished by a fine up to $2,500, a year in jail, or both.

Cruz is facing a tough midterm challenge from Beto O’Rourke, although the Democrat has been trailing the incumbent Texas senator on average by 7-points, despite record-high donations and flattering media coverage of his campaign.