Two protesters were arrested Thursday after they threw a U.S. flag they were burning in front of the White House onto a Secret Service agent, injuring that agent and another who helped at the scene, the Washington Examiner reported.
A third protester was also arrested and released without charges.
Two U.S. flags were used in the protest. A Secret Service agent put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.
Communists burn a flag in front of the White House, toss it on U.S. Secret Service Police, who recoils in pain. Another USSS member comes in with a fire extinguisher and puts it out. pic.twitter.com/jqLd4DQC0I
— Marcus J. DiPaola (@marcusdipaola) July 4, 2019
Isn’t flag burning legal?
Flag burning as a form of protest was declared legal in 1989 and reaffirmed in 1990. One of the protesters, Gregory “Joey” Johnson, was even involved in that case. So shouldn’t the protesters have been sent on their way rather than arrested?
Not in this case. The protesters, who were affiliated with the so-called Revolutionary Communist Party, didn’t actually get arrested for flag burning. One is charged with malicious burning and felony assault on a police officer, and the other with obstructing a police investigation and resisting arrest.
Yahoo! News reported that the burning of the flags occurred outside the permit issued to the Revolutionary Communist Party by the Park Service, which is why one of the protesters was charged with malicious burning.
A counter-protest from supporters of President Donald Trump resulted in fighting that may have also injured Secret Service agents who were trying to make the arrests. Far-right group the Proud Boys challenged the protesters while wearing hats depicting Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, Make America Great Again. The protesters chanted back: “America was never great.”
Celebration in D.C.
The protests and arrests took place just two hours before Trump gave a speech to commemorate Independence Day on Thursday. Other protesters demonstrated more peacefully at the Lincoln Memorial.
Trump’s speech drew a crowd that filled the entire National Mall around the Lincoln Memorial, photos showed. The president spoke as part of a nonpartisan event he called, “A Salute to the American Spirit.”
Democrat presidential frontrunner Joe Biden and other candidates criticized Trump for the event, accusing him of using it as a campaign booster and stroking his ego. But Trump kept campaigning out of his speech, and instead talked about America’s history and its greatness without mentioning his own achievements at all, according to Fox News.
“Our nation is stronger today than it ever was before. It is its strongest now,” Trump said in his address. “We celebrate our history, our people, and the heroes who proudly defend our flag: the brave men and women of the United States military.”
Thursday’s event showed yet another contrast between the Democrats who try to tear Americans apart with constant attacks on Republicans and Trump, who was only trying to bring Americans together to celebrate its greatness.
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