Woman arrested for removing Confederate flag from South Carolina statehouse grounds

Confederate flag
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

An unidentified black woman, believed to be activist Bree Newsome, climbed a flagpole on South Carolina's statehouse grounds to remove the Confederate flag Saturday morning, The Associated Press reports. Police arrested her and a man on the property. The flag is expected to be raised again Saturday for a pro-Confederate flag rally.

Debate over the flag was renewed earlier this month when a white man fatally shot nine people at a historically black church in Charleston. Gov. Nikki Haley has called on state legislators to authorize the flag's permanent removal from statehouse grounds.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.