Rachel Kurzius
Gregory Lee “Joey” Johnson decided to light two American flags on fire in front of the White House on the Fourth of July “to let people know around the world that there are people in this country who are fighting the empire,” he says.
Although the National Park Service granted Johnson a permit for his flag burning demonstration in Lafayette Square, he and another activist were nonetheless arrested amid a scuffle with counter protestors. Johnson was initially arrested for felony assault on a police officer and “malicious burning,” but prosecutors have instead charged him with two disorderly conduct misdemeanors.
It wasn’t Johnson’s first time setting the symbol ablaze. Indeed, his name is on the Supreme Court case that determined that flag burning is a constitutionally protected right. And last month, the city of Cleveland settled with him for $225,000 after arresting him for burning the flag outside the Republican National Convention in 2016.
“If it wasn’t so powerful a form of expression, then the government wouldn’t be attempting in so many ways to ban it and to criminalize it,” Johnson says. His demonstration was slated for 5 p.m. in Lafayette Square, just across the street from the White House.
At a nearby bar, a “broad group of patriots” learned about Johnson’s planned flag burning demonstration, says Luke Rohlfing, a member of the far-right Proud Boys, and decided to head over to Lafayette Square to “say this is not a good thing.”
Members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a 44-year-old group advocating for an overthrow of capitalism in the U.S., “formed a protective safety circle around me,” says Johnson, so he could light the flags without disturbance from counter protesters. “Some of these Make America Great Again fascists charged the circle to try to rupture it.”
Greg Aselbekian, a local pro-Trump activist, says he was among the people got one of the burned flags away from the Revolutionary Communist Party. “[We] took the flag and put it out, ripped it right out of those scums’ hands,” Aselbekian said during his speech at the Demand Free Speech Freedom Rally on Saturday. “We fought for that flag.”
According to the Secret Service, officers extinguished the second flag. Law enforcement intervened after observing “what appeared to be a crowd of people fighting,” according to the incident report.
Ultimately, they arrested two people: Johnson and another member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, the former for felony assault on a police officer and malicious burning, and the latter for obstructing a police investigation and resisting arrest.
In Johnson’s account, police officers came over “with a fire extinguisher and started grabbing at me,” he says. “They eventually tackled me and took me to jail.” He doesn’t know why he was initially accused of assaulting an officer. “I assaulted no one,” he says. Meanwhile, he says, the counter protesters “were just sent on their merry way [even though] there were a number of people that were attacking us.”
D.C. police escorted Proud Boys and other far-right counter protesters to a nearby bar after the incident.
According to the incident report, the assault offense was tied to a “chemical/acid” weapon, and two Secret Service officers were taken to a local hospital “for the accelerant that they had inhaled from the American flag that was engulfed in open flame.”
When Johnson was arraigned on Friday, though, he wasn’t charged with any felonies. Instead, he now faces two disorderly conduct charges: one for inciting violence and one for creating a dangerous situation. He has pleaded not guilty.
Johnson’s next court date in D.C. is scheduled for August 1. “I’m looking forward to fighting this case,” he says.
