We the people taking matters into our own hands. Update to this previous story.
Via IJR
A Chinese flag flew over the Washington state capitol last week to celebrate Governor Jay Inslee’s trade meeting with Chinese ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai. But not everybody in Olympia approved of the gesture.
According to The Huffington Post, a “small group of tea party activists” protested the flag’s presence at the state capitol on Saturday:
Tea partiers tear down Chinese flag at Washington state capitol http://t.co/GJvNY8vhgx
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) April 6, 2015
The activists posted a video of the event on YouTube, detailing what happened. One of the participants in the protests was identified by the Huffington Post as Anthony Bosworth. In the video, Bosworth, who considers himself to be an “Oath Keeper,” cheered on the police officer who took down the flag:
“Now that’s an Oath Keeper there, making sure the Communist flag comes down. That’s an officer that I can support.”
But according to Jaime Smith, Governor Inslee’s media relations director, the removal of the flag had nothing to do with the protestors. Smith claimed the protestors demonstrated during the time scheduled for the flag to come down, saying:
“The governor will often meet with dignitaries when they come to town. It’s a matter of protocol to fly their home country’s flag during their visit. Our state’s Department of Enterprise Services was going to lower the flag shortly after that anyway.”