Cleveland police arrested at least 17 people on Wednesday outside the GOP convention after chaos broke out when protesters started to burn the American flag.
Police quickly moved in with fire extinguishers to put the blaze out. It’s a good thing, too, because the man lighting the flag ended up catching on fire himself.
One police officer can be seen on the video of the protest below (~2:22 mark) yelling, “You’re on fire! You’re on fire, stupid!”
Protestor lit flag on fire, then lit himself on fire, catching others on fire. Flames extinguished by firefighters. No serious injuries.
— Cleveland Police (@CLEpolice) July 20, 2016
Carl Dix, a representative of Revolutionary Communist Party, the group protesting, said they organized and wanted to burn the flag as a “political statement about the crimes of the American empire. There’s nothing great about America.”