THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
ARTS & CULTURE
INSIDE MSG passed bylaws allowing it to impeach its president p. 2
KU professor receives backlash for book’s portrayal of Muslims The University Daily Kansan
vol. 136 // iss. 8 Mon., Feb. 5, 2018
Gameday: KU basketball prepares to bounce back against TCU p. 12
SEE AUTHOR • PAGE 9
Protesters with flags flood Mass To counter a planned flag-dragging event, people marched Saturday in a “Defend Our Flag” demonstration
Chihiro Kai/KANSAN Protesters march up and down Massachusetts Street during the Defend Our Flag counter-protest on Saturday. CHIHIRO KAI @ChihiroKai98 Beginning Saturday morning, over 100 counter-protesters marched down Massachusetts Street in an event that led to one arrest. “This is to picket the flag dragging march scheduled for the same time and location. Bring your flags, and fly them proudly. We will not tolerate desecration of the flag that so many of our brothers and sisters have died to defend,” posts the Defend Our Flag Facebook page said. The flag-dragging march, scheduled to take place Saturday, according to Defend Our Flag participants, was posted on Facebook earlier this week before it was taken down Friday. No protesters from Drag the Flag were seen on Massachusetts Street. “We seen the event on Facebook where the guy was dragging the flag down the street,” said Brian War-
ner, a participant in Defend Our Flag. “It didn’t happen. We didn’t make it happen.” He showed Facebook messages he had exchanged with the Drag The Flag page. At the time, the Facebook page indicated the event was scheduled for 11 a.m. in South Park. In response to the planned event, more than 100 counter-protesters showed up on Massachusetts Street. There were Thin Blue Line flags alongside the red and white stripes, and vehicles with Confederate and U.S. flags attached to their sides driving up and down the street. Two men held up a Triple Threat flag, a combination of the Confederate, U.S. and Gadsden flags. One protester wore a Make America Great Again hat, while another wore a long blue flag printed with the Donald Trump campaign slogan. The numbers grew as the protest continued. “This is actually my first assembly I’ve attended, and
some good friends of mine actually put this together,” Cesar Damman from Ottawa said. “But we’re all out here in support of this flag, and everything that it means. A lot of people refer to this as just a piece of cloth, for some it’s hell of a lot more than a piece of cloth, it’s everything they stand for.” “We all showed up this morning to protect our American flag, that’s what it’s all about, man. We’re Americans, Americans all the way, 100 percent,” Warner said. Though the overall protest was peaceful, some offensive language was exchanged between a pedestrian and a protester at 11th and Massachusetts streets near South Park. A Defend Our Flag participant taunted the pedestrian for being “thin-skinned” and then called him a gay slur. The pedestrian then replied with more profanity. No physical violence occurred. At the time, another Defend Our Flag participant spoke
to his fellow marchers, saying, “This is not what we are here for.” One altercation occured after a pedestrian pulled flags off of a Defend Our Flag vehicle, according to protesters. He then ran across the street from the Douglas County Courthouse toward Fuzzy’s Taco Shop when he was stopped by other Defend Our Flag protesters. A beer glass shattered as the pedestrian attempted to run through the group, and he was thrown against the fence near Fuzzy’s. He was surrounded by the protesters before two Lawrence Police Department officers retrieved him from the crowd, tackled him to the ground and handcuffed him. The Lawrence Police Department did not comment on this incident. However, in an incident that may have been unrelated, John Parker, 27, was arrested on one count of criminal damage to proper-
ty, according to Capt. Troy Squire of the Lawrence Police Department and Douglas County Jail booking logs. “We made one arrest downtown in the 1100th block of Massachusetts regarding someone kicking a truck and causing damage,” Squire said. A representative from the Douglas County Jail later said Parker has since been released from custody. According to an email from Officer Drew Fennelly, this was the only arrest made during the protest, but there was one citation issued for “carrying an open container of alcohol.” Early on in the march, the Lawrence Police Department had warned the Defend Our Flag group to avoid threatening language. The march continued to circle up and down Massachusetts Street until after 1 p.m.
Chihiro Kai/KANSAN A “Defend Our Flag” protester and a woman carrying a “We Are One” poster get into a verbal altercation during Saturday’s march.