Day three outside the Republican National Convention began with local authorities addressing an altercation with radio personality Alex Jones the day before and ended with a flag burning altercation Wednesday evening. She said they were first told he would be released at 1:30 pm, then they were told maybe after 6 pm. They will be arraigned in 24 to 48 hours.
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Dramatic images captured the moment Gregory Lee Johnson set a flag he was holding alight, before the fire quickly spread to his trousers, during a demonstration that blocked delegates from getting into the convention on Wednesday. The protest took place at the intersection of East Fourth Street and Prospect Avenue.
The Supreme Court determined flag burning constitutes as “symbolic speech”, and is therefore protected by the First Amendment. Police said he accidentally set himself on fire, prompting them to take action to extinguish the fire and disperse the crowd, but eyewitness accounts as well as photo and video evidence seem show a different story. Police Chief Calvin Williams was on hand for a time urging calm.
One of the 17 people arrested after a flag burning incident on Wednesday was part of the landmark Supreme Court case that ruled flag burning as protected speech.
Rev Com members had a press conference this morning in front of the Justice Center, calling for immediate release of those who were arrested.
Firefighters extinguished the flag and removed it from the area.
Taylor, however, claimed Johnson successfully burned the flag.
“We don’t really know what is going on”, Sweet said. “That imperialist rag was in flames”. At that point, dozens more officers broke up the circle and formed a perimeter as two of the flag burners were arrested.
“5,6,7,8 America was never great”, the people shouted as she tried to light the flag.
They are expected in Cleveland Municipal Court throughout the day Thursday. The others were charged with misdemeanor charges of failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Many outlets originally reported that pepper spray was deployed, but the Cleveland Police Department has confirmed it was a fire extinguisher.
Charges have not been dropped for those who were arrested in the incident, Nicholson said.
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Carl Dix, a representative of Revolutionary Communist Party, said the group organized the burning of the American flag as a “political statement about the crimes of the American empire”.
