The U.S. Secret Service says two people were arrested during a Fourth of July flag-burning incident on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.
The Secret Service said that one person was arrested for felony assault on a police officer and malicious burning, and the other was arrested for hindering a police investigation and resisting arrest.
Two uniformed Secret Service officers suffered minor injuries while attempting to make the arrests. They were transported to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. One of those who were arrested was also transported to the hospital.
The Secret Service says the burning occurred beyond the limits of a permit issued by the National Park Service.
According to CNN, leftist protesters outside the White House had set fire to the flag. The incident eventually culminated in the two arrests.
The protest, which turned into a violent clash, took place just blocks from crowds who had gathered to watch Trump’s July Fourth speech and fireworks displays on the National Mall.
Led by radical activist Joey Johnson, a group from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, linked arms and set an American flag on fire outside as they chanted, “America was never great.”
The Secret Service intervened quickly to extinguish the fire.
“Burn, baby, burn,” the protesters chanted.
In a news release before the incident, Johnson said he was leading the protest because “I’m going to be speaking to the people of the world letting them know that there are people inside the borders of this country who stand with the people of the world.”
Multiple protesters, Johnson among them, were escorted from the scene in handcuffs by the Secret Service. A news release after the event from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, said Johnson was among those arrested.
Johnson is also known for his Supreme Court victory in 1989 that struck down state laws in Texas banning the burning of the American flag.
It is not illegal to burn a U.S. flag. However, Trump said on June 15 that he supports an amendment that would ban the burning of American flags.
“All in for Senator Steve Daines as he proposes an Amendment for a strong BAN on burning our American Flag. A no brainer!” Trump wrote on Twitter on June 15.
Daines (R-Mont.) recently proposed a constitutional amendment that would prohibit burning the flag, as the nation celebrated Flag Day.
Daines, who shared Trump’s missive in support of his move, had recently introduced an amendment for three consecutive years and said that his latest effort is a “reintroduction” of the same amendment.
