The temperatures are scorching in Cleveland and it got a little hotter this afternoon when 17 protesters were arrested for burning the American flag.
Police had ordered demonstrators to disperse when members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, also known as RevCom, ignited the flag outside Quicken Loans Arena, where Republicans are holding their national convention. The flag burned for only a few minutes before it was put out by the fire department.
It was a tense few moments as officers worked to break up the group during a fit of shoving and screaming. Mounted police attempted to drive a crowd of a few hundred people out of the area.
Several people were seen wrestling with police, and a few were led away in zip-tie handcuffs. The Cleveland Police say two officers were assaulted.
RevCom says one of those arrested was Joey Johnson, who had burned an American flag at the 1984 Republican convention and ultimately won a case at the Supreme Court that protected his right to do so as a form of speech.
I was about 30 feet away when this happened. I think the crowd, the police and even the protestors did a nice job or expressing their beliefs, having their moment and then moving on. It took about 10 minutes for everything to return to normal. Other than the moment when I saw about 40 different police officers running from different directions towards the scene did I not feel safe. Nice job Cleveland PD (and a bunch of highway patrol officers from Florida as well).