The real protest would be not providing traffic control or escorting the team bus to the stadium.
(Reuters) – The Cleveland police officers union will not hold the U.S. flag at the first Browns game of the new National Football League season after some of the team’s players recently knelt in protest during the national anthem, the union president said.
Steve Loomis, the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association president, said he was offended by the Browns players’ symbolic act and so his members would not take part in the Sept. 10 season-opening ceremony.
“As a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and the United States Navy, and a 24-year veteran of the Cleveland Police Department, I am not going to participate or work with management that allows their players to disrespect the flag and the national anthem,” Loomis told WKYC news channel on Saturday. […]
Loomis said the Browns management had told him it was “disappointed” the union would not join in the flag ceremony alongside other military and law enforcement officers ahead of the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at the FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
The Browns’ management has not commented on the union’s decision, choosing instead to re-release an earlier statement to media outlets that was first published after the protest at the Aug. 21 game.
“As an organization, we have a profound respect for our country’s National Anthem, flag and the servicemen and servicewomen in the United States and abroad,” the Browns’ statement said.