‘Grand Flagging’ demonstrators converge on downtown Asheville, NC

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    ASHEVILLE, NC (WLOS ) — After both police and the City of Asheville released warnings during the week, demonstrators in downtown Asheville remained non-violent throughout their protest on Saturday.

Confederate battle flags were mounted on the top deck of the College Street parking garage in Asheville on Aug. 29.

“We wanted to fly our flag and say, ‘Hey, we are still here and we don’t mean any harm whatsoever,” one member of the group said.

The man, from South Carolina, is part of the ‘die-hard heritage supporters’ who visited downtown to hold a Confederate flag.

The so-called Grand Flagging of Asheville was anticipated by City Council, which sent out a warning Friday afternoon, asking opposing groups to avoid conflict and the group.

Their statement said,

“We, as a Council, want to encourage residents to stay home, stay safe. The protesters will likely be carrying weapons and have stated that they “plan to remain peaceful, unless threatened.” We know that so many in our community do not agree with this protest. As a Council we are committed to the work of removing injustices and systematic racism, and this protest will not change that. Please stay safe, do not engage. We do not want anyone to get hurt.
“We are trying to protect what we have left, which is just our statues of great men, given, yes they may have owned slaves but they were men of their time and that’s not fair,” the South Carolina man said. “Just like everybody else, you are a person of your time. What we do now may be judged in 200 years is primitive.”

The group migrated to Vance Monument where they were met with counter-protesters.

“I was expecting it to be a lot more aggressive or a lot bigger presence, especially in a liberal city like Asheville,” Lupe Ortiz said.

Ortiz said she supports the Black Lives Matter movement and was shocked to see Confederate battle flags when she looked out her hotel window this morning.

“My initial thoughts were, ‘Oh no,’” Ortiz said.

The new Asheville resident said she was pleasantly surprised to see the men holding the flags having conversations with counter-protesters about their beliefs.

“Nobody is arguing and I think it is really cool because the more you know about things the more you can gain an honest opinion,” Ortiz said.

The men left the downtown area around 5:00 p.m Saturday night.

“We maintained complete peace all freaking day and had conversations like this all day,” the South Carolina man said. “They came out here to protest us. Every one of them that has approached us and actually talked with us, it’s been incredible. The conversations that we’ve had today have been beautiful.”

The Asheville Police Department said they were monitoring the downtown area throughout the day and that no arrests had been made.

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