Photo by Matt Cohen.

Photo by Matt Cohen.

A rally in celebration of the Confederate flag and southern heritage on U.S. Capitol Grounds this weekend was met with heavy opposition from counter-protesters.

Early Saturday morning, a group of about dozen or so protesters donned in clothing sporting the Confederate flag gathered in Upper Senate Park as part of the “Save Southern History & Heritage March.” But before they even arrived there was nearly twice as many counter-protesters already in attendance, waiting eagerly for the Confederate flag rally to arrive.

With large signs sporting messages like “God Hates Flags,” “Fuck White Supremacy,” “Fuck The Confederacy,” and, simply put, “Fuck Y’all,” the counter-protesters danced and chanted as the visibly frustrated Confederate Flag protesters spread their own message.

“[There are] a lot of people who are politically correct that don’t understand that you can’t take something away that ain’t theirs,” Ron Feathers, one of the Confederate flag protesters, said.

The message he and other participants of the Save Southern History & Heritage March wanted to share was that the symbol of the Confederate flag isn’t one of hate.

“It’s what kept this country going,” Feathers said. “We’ve got a history to save, and it ain’t for us—because we know what history’s about—it’s for all the little people, the young people. They’re not teaching this in school, they’re taking it away. They’re destroying our monuments. changing street signs and changing laws just to accommodate the politically correct people.”

While Saturday’s rally and counter-protest was by and large peaceful, it wasn’t without its tense moments. Separated by a line of about two dozen Capitol Police officers, the two groups briefly faced off against each other, with some Confederate flag protesters shouting “look at these queers!” to the counter-protesters who were yelling at them to “go home.”

Eventually, Capitol Police forced the counter-protesters to move as they did not have a permit (the Save Southern History & Heritage March did have a permit to protest at Upper Senate Park, however).

Counter-protesters took to the street to sound off against the Confederate flag protesters before eventually following them to inside Union Station, where a group of activists identifying with the Black Lives Matter movement started a small rally.

Filed Under: confederate flag rally, save southern history & heritage march, upper senate park,