Flag burning protest sets off clash in ped mall

A group of protesters set fire to multiple American flags on the Iowa City pedestrian mall on Thursday, setting off a scuffle and heated verbal arguments with bystanders.

The flag burning was not intended to be anti-veteran, members of the group said, but instead meant to protest racial and social injustice and U.S. imperialism, they said.

"When I see the flag, I see racial injustice," said Paul Osgerby of Iowa City. "I see social injustice from Native American genocide to African-American slavery to failing to recognize women as citizens until the 20th century."

Still, the actions caused a scene on the pedestrian mall across from the Old Capitol Mall, as onlookers shouted and a man in a FedEx uniform, Matt Uhrin, rushed out with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze. Uhrin took one of the flags from protesters, scuffling with a number of protesters in the process.

RELATED:  FedEx issues statement on Iowa City flag burning incident

Uhrin declined to comment except to say his actions were not related to his employer.

One onlooker, Bob Guyer, said the act was disrespectful to military veterans.

"Probably every one of them has a relative at one point or another that died for that," Guyer said, referring to the flag.

"That's not free speech. Too many people have died for it,"  he said.

But Osgerby said the group's action was taken in part because of what he considers the threat of fascism in the United States under President Donald Trump, including Trump's order for federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency to halt their communication with the public through news releases and social media.

"We are looking at fascism, and I believe that it’s my First Amendment right to protest that in a nonviolent way," Osgerby said.

Two members of the group, Osgerby and Kelli Ebensberger, also of Iowa City, were charged with violating Iowa City's public burn ordinance, a simple misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail or a fine of up to $625.

Iowa City Police Sgt. Scott Gaarde said the two were charged because they failed to seek a permit from the fire department to burn the flags, not because of what they were burning. Iowa has a law on the books that makes it illegal to defile, cast contempt upon, satirize or deride a flag. That law, however, was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in December 2014 and state prosecutors were told not to enforce it.

"It’s not for the content of what they were burning but rather for violating the city ordinance of open burning," Gaarde said.

The charges against Osgerby and Ebensberger are the only two charges police expect to file in relation to the incident, according to Gaarde.

Ebensberger said she and the others knew they were violating the ordinance but said protesting should not be criminalized, expressing concern about a bill in the Iowa Senate that would make blocking traffic on highways a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison. The bill comes after around 100 protesters marched onto Interstate Highway 80 in the days following Trump's election.

"If you start criminalizing one aspect of protesting it's only a matter of time before they start criminalizing it all," she said.

Reach Stephen Gruber-Miller at 319-887-5407 or sgrubermil@press-citizen.com. Follow him on Twitter: @sgrubermiller.