June 27--REPORTING FROM COLUMBIA, S.C. -- An activist scaled a flagpole in front of the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia on Saturday and took down the Confederate battle flag amid demonstrations and memorials for the nine people slain at a historic black church in Charleston.
A police officer asked the woman, identified by authorities as Brittany Ann Newsome, to come down, but she refused to descend until she had unhooked the flag.
She was subsequently arrested, along with James Ian Tyson, 30, who allegedly accompanied Newsome inside the fenced area surrounding the flag and similarly ignored the directions of the police officer.
Both Newsome and Tyson faced charges of defacing a monument, a misdemeanor, according to a statement from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
If convicted, they could face fines of up to $5,000 and up to three years in prison.
They posted bond and were released in midafternoon, authorities said.
Newsome, an African American, is identified on her Facebook page as a western organizer with Ignite NC, a nonprofit group challenging voting laws that they contend suppress voting and are discriminatory.
In a statement to the news program Democracy Now, Newsome said she had decided with a group of "concerned citizens" to "do what the S.C. Legislature has thus far neglected to do."
Filmmaker Michael Moore immediately offered to come to Newsome's aid.
"I will pay her bail money or any legal fees she has. Please let her know this," he said on Twitter.
The social media response to Newsome's arrest was swift and forceful. Twitter lit up with tweets calling for police to release her under the hashtag #FreeBree. Others criticized state officials for raising the flag again and characterized Newsome's actions as brave civil disobedience.
Newsome's supporters also started an indiegogo page dedicated to raising money to pay for her bail and hire a defense lawyer. The campaign had raised nearly $70,000 in seven hours.
The NAACP lauded Newsome's protest as "an act of prayerful nonviolent civil disobedience."
"Bree Newsome is a committed, trained, nonviolent messenger of the truth," the NAACP president, Dr. William J. Barber II, said in a statement.
"We stand in solidarity with her, and the deep commitment which she has to justice, love and true interracial community," Barber said, likening her to Rosa Parks, the so-called "first lady of civil rights."
Barber also condemned the Confederate flag as a "vulgar" symbol that defended slavery and Jim Crow periods in American history. He also called for overarching legislation to expand Medicaid, fund education, raise the minimum wage, institute stricter gun control measures and remove the Confederate flag from state properties.
The placement of the flag at the Statehouse has been a hotbed of debate since the shooting that left nine black churchgoers dead on June 17. The suspect posed for photos with the Confederate flag.
Some defend the flag as a symbol of Southern history and culture. Others decry it as a representation of racism and a reminder of the era of slavery in American history.
"The group took down the symbol of white supremacy that inspired the massacre, continued to fly at full mast in defiance of South Carolina's grief, and flew in defiance of everyone working to actualize a more equitable Carolinian future," Newsome said in the statement.
The flag, which is protected by state law, was raised again a short time later.
South Carolina lawmakers are expected to consider legislation to remove the flag from the Statehouse grounds next month.
Later Saturday, arguments and scuffles broke out as scores of protesters -- -- on both sides -- -- descended on the Statehouse to applaud and protest Newsome's feat.
"I'm standing for Bree," said Bonita Jones, 28, a black activist from Columbia, as she stood below the flag at the base of the Confederate monument. "I'm standing for all the people who died in Charleston. I'm standing for all the people who can't look after themselves."
Jones said tears came to her eyes Saturday morning when she heard about Newsome's action. She was so inspired, she jumped out of bed, brushed her teeth and headed straight to the Statehouse. When she got there, there were scores of people waving Confederate flags.
Frank Looper, 50, a white truck driver from Pickens County, drove 2 1/2 hours to the Statehouse to defend the flag after watching the news on CNN. He said he wanted to protect the legacy of his great-great-grandfather, who fought in the 3rd South Carolina Infantry, and another ancestor who rode in battle with Gen. Wade Hampton in the 2nd Soth Carolina Infantry.
"We use the flag to honor our ancestors who died," he said. "The way it was removed upset me. I don't hate blacks. I'm not racist. Those poor people who died in Charleston, that's terrible... But then politics tried to make out that the flag pull[ed] the trigger. It was a sick individual."
Other protesters waved signs saying, "TAKE IT DOWN," "i CAN'T BELIEVE " and "EVIL prevails when good people do NOTHING!"
Passing cars honked. A row of pickup trucks and SUVs circled the block, flying Confederate flags on their trailer hitches.
"It's embarrassing to me as a Southerner," said Tom Clements, 64, director of the environmental group Savannah River Site Watch. His great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War.
"It's part of my heritage, but I think [the flag] should come down," he said. "It was all about slavery and it's a symbol of divisiveness and white supremacy."
Jarvie reported from Columbia and Shepherd from Los Angeles.
UPDATES
4:09 p.m.: Updated the money raised on line for Newsome.
2:58 p.m.: Updated with the release of Newsome and Tyson.
2:18 p.m.: Updated with more interviews from protesters at the Statehouse grounds.
1:45 p.m.: Updated with NAACP statement.
1:00 p.m.: This post has been updated with protests at the Statehouse.
11:23 a.m.: This post has been updated with staff reporting.
This post was originally published at 4:44 a.m.
