A man identifying himself as a 20-year combat veteran was arrested in Lafayette Square, across from the White House, on Monday after setting an American flag on fire in a nearby park to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order to prosecute people who burn or otherwise desecrate a flag.
“I’m burning this flag as a protest to that illegal, fascist president who sits in that house,” the man said in a video posted to social media by The Bulwark, according to NBC News.
“I fought for every one of your rights,” he also told a small crowd at the scene.
The Secret Service reported arresting the man, who was not identified, around 6:15 p.m. ET for “igniting an object,” and said he was turned over to U.S. Park Police.
Authorities said he was charged with violating a statute that prohibits lighting a fire in parks, forests, or on federal property, reports The Washington Post.
The Park Police and the Secret Service did not report specifically that the fire involved an American flag.
Earlier in the day, Trump signed his executive order cracking down on flag “desecration” when tied to other crimes or actions likely to incite violence. He told reporters that flag burning will carry a penalty of “one year in jail, no early exits, no nothing.”
The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “vigorously prosecute” people who burn the American flag while committing other criminal offenses. It also authorizes her to “pursue litigation to clarify the scope of the First Amendment exceptions in this area.”
In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that burning the American flag is protected free speech.
Trump’s order does not itself establish the one-year jail penalty he mentioned, but it argues that burning flags in a way “likely to incite imminent lawless action” or that amounts to “fighting words” is not constitutionally protected.
While signing the order, Trump said, “When you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before. People go crazy.”
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