An 80-year-old Bethpage man says the statement on his clothing led to his arrest during a war protest at the Smith Haven Mall Saturday.

Church deacon and Army veteran Don Zirkel, along with hundreds of others, gathered at the mall to rally for and against the war. Zirkel says at one point he and his wife went into the food court to meet friends when they were approached by a group of uniformed police officers and mall security.

Zirkel says mall security asked him to either remove his T-shirt or leave the premises. The shirt read ?4,000 troops, 1 million Iraqis dead. Enough.? Zirkel says he refused, adding ?I am not going to participate in my own stupid arrest. ?

The officers put him in a wheelchair, handcuffed him and escorted him from the mall, according to Zirkel. He was charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespassing.

Police and representatives from Smith Haven Mall assert Zirkel was handing out pamphlets at the mall. He denies that. The mall says it does not allow protests or demonstrations on mall property and once Zirkel was inside the mall, he did not comply with that rule.

Click to watch more on where you can and cannot protest