Edith Olmsted
Tue, August 26, 2025
"A demonstrator who identified himself as a disabled combat veteran was arrested Monday after burning an American flag in protest of President Donald Trump’s latest executive order.
"Speaking through a megaphone to the onlookers outside of the White House, the protester explained that Trump’s latest decree penalizing flag burning was an affront to the First Amendment.
" 'I fought for every single one of your rights to express yourself in however you feel that you may want to express yourself,' the protester said, in a video shared to social media.
" 'No president can make a law—period—no Congress can make a law infringing on #FirstAmendment rights,' he added. 'I’m burning this flag as a protest of that illegal #fascist president that sits in that house!'
"The protester then lit the flag on fire.
"Despite Trump’s claim that burning the American flag 'incites riots at a level we’ve never seen,' no such riot materialized. The protester was promptly arrested by the Secret Service.
"The Secret Service released a statement that it detained the man 'for igniting an object' and that he was turned over to Park Police, who said they’d arrested him for violating a statute that prohibits lighting a fire in a public park, according to NBC News.
"Trump’s blatant attack on free speech built on fictitious grounds is an affront to the U.S. Constitution, and the Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 in 1989 that flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/veteran-burned-flag-d-c-144107863.html