The wall of people from the WBC protest vantage.
Right as I was getting in place to take pictures, two men broke from the crowd. I could not see the actual altercation, but as soon as it finished, there was one man being arrested, all three flags had been removed from the WBC people, and the Sheriff’s Deputy in charge at this location had handed to flags to a man for proper retirement, as the flags had been in contact with the ground.
Seconds before two men removed the American flags from the WBC protesters.
In the blink of an eye, it was over, with one man in custody. The police were actually very gentle with him when they took him down. He did not resist the police at all.
One man taken into custody.
The man got a rousing cheer as he was led off by the police. Through this all, I realized that I was so angry at these people that my hands were shaking. Good thing I had the 200mm f/2.8 lens to counter the shake.
Every LEO in the area arrived, and within minutes ordered the WBC people out. Protest over, now Donna could make her final mile to rest.
The police shut down the protest, ordering them to leave and escorting them away from the area. Good riddance.
The helpful police man is opening the door for the WBC protester.
Gone. Now we could get to the real reason to be here, honoring SGT Donna Johnson on the last leg of her journey.
Good riddance.
I know that I spent a lot of time on the protesters. They do not deserve it. The people who stood watch for Donna do deserve the time and thanks. Freedom and Liberty are never easy. All of us who are serving or are Veterans fought for the freedom that the WBC exercised today, as disgusting and hateful as it is. Donna died in service to that ideal no matter what one thinks of the specific conflict in which she died. We exercised our right to peacefully counter them. The altercation was about the flags, not an attack on those people.
Donna’s journey to her resting place passed right by her house on the way to the cemetery. I got a good picture of a little girl and her parents by my car as we waited. The girl was absolutely fascinated by the car, and her parents were worried she would hurt the car. No worries.
No comment yet, add your voice below!