Bond set for protester who made grab for Confederate flag

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Bond was set Thursday for a protester who jumped a barricade and attempted to snatch a Confederate flag away from a member of the South Carolina Secessionist Party, WSCS reported.

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Muhiyidin Moye, the leader of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Charleston, is charged with disorderly conduct stemming from Wednesday’s incident. A judge set a personal recognizance bond of $2,382 for Moye, 31, WCSC reported.

Moye’s leap was caught on live television as he ran across the street, jumped police tape and tried to take away a Confederate flag from another man. Members of the South Carolina Secessionist Party were among several groups gathered outside Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston to protest an event featuring African-American activist and filmmaker Brittany “Bree” Newsome.

“It’s a soldier’s flag and South Carolina lost a quarter of our male population, that’s what that flag represents to us. Black, white, Hispanic, all colors served under that flag so to make it a racial thing is ingenuous," said James Bessinger, who was holding the Confederate flag.

Newsome climbed a 30-foot flagpole and temporarily removed the South Carolina State House's Confederate flag in 2015. She was one of two people arrested after the June 27, 2015, flagpole incident and charged with defacing state property. Newsome said the charges have since been dropped and the case was dismissed.

Her visit to speak at the College of Charleston is what prompted the Secessionist Party to show resistance. In a discussion called "Tearing Hatred from the Sky," Newsome spoke about her State House Confederate flag protest and other demonstrations she's participated in.

“To bring a woman in like this for a platform like this, it legitimizes that type of behavior. It really validates vandalism and criminal violence," Bessinger said.

"Bree’s intention was to create a new image, a new symbol and a new consciousness of the power inherent in direct action," an event description on the College of Charleston website read.

Last week, a woman posted on Facebook that the college’s decision to host Newsome was “a sure-fire mistake.”

"As long as a person of her nature is put on a pedestal all of this unnecessary bickering, violence, protesting, and vandalism will never stop," Crystal Branham posted on Feb. 16.

Cox Media Group