CLEVELAND (AP) – Police arrested 17 people Wednesday after a melee broke out during a flag-burning in the streets outside the Republican National Convention.
It was the most turbulent protest since the four-day convention began on Monday. The chaos briefly prevented delegates and members of the media from getting into the Quicken Loans Arena for the evening’s proceedings.
Among those arrested was Gregory “Joey” Johnson, whose torching of the flag at a GOP convention three decades ago led to the landmark 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said flag-burning is speech protected by the First Amendment.
Two officers were assaulted and suffered minor injuries, police said. One officer was seen bleeding from an elbow. Two of those arrested were charged with felonious assault on a police officer, the rest with failure to disperse.
Police Chief Calvin Williams said a protester whose pants caught fire got defensive when a police officer tried to put out the blaze. The man assaulted the officer, and “things escalated from there,” Williams said.