A Confederate flag brawl broke out in front of the South Carolina statehouse Monday, ending with one man's arrest and high tensions as the public debate on the flag and its meaning continue to play out nationwide.
South Carolina Department of
Public Safety spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli told The State that authorities charged 25-year-old Nicholas Thompson with disorderly conduct after he confronted a crowd protesting the Confederate flag at the statehouse.
The Bureau of Protective Services stated, according to the newspaper, that about 30 people had gathered near the Confederate memorial protesting the flag when about 15 vehicles of Confederate flag proponents drove in front of the statehouse.
Eight to 10 people exited the vehicles, according to Iacobelli, and got into an altercation with the protesters.
The newspaper said about 50 officers from the South Carolina Highway Patrol, University of South Carolina Police, and Columbia Police Department assisted the Bureau of Protective Services to restore order to the area.
Protestor Loretta Torres told WIS-TV that tensions were running high in the area.
"There's a lot of tension, a lot of pain, a lot of frustration," Torres said. "People are tired of the racism. Black lives matter."
Joe Linder told the television station that several people jumped him during the brawl.
"There was more than one of them," Linder said. "I don't know how many. But you know what, for all the blood in my mouth, for all the blood on my face, for the blood on my hand, it compares nothing to the blood of my heritage."
The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan announced that it will bring between 100 and 200 people on July 18 to protest against the removal of the Confederate flag, according to the television station.
"It should be a peaceful rally," James Spears, the great titan of the Loyal White Knights, told WIS-TV. "We usually have pretty peaceful rallies. I mean, to me, it should be a peaceful rally. Like I said, it's for the Confederate Flag."
William Hollingsworth, retired colonel with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, told WIS-TV that the Klan's presence was not supported by his organization.
"They are not, in any way, shape, or form, associated with the Sons of Confederate Veterans or will you find anyone there that really knows the history of the Confederate soldier or the Southern people," Hollingsworth said to WIS-TV.