A group was protesting a speech at the College of Charleston given by Bree Newsome an activist and film-maker. She climbed a flagpole of the Charleston capital grounds to cut down a Confederate flag in the days after Dylann Roof tried to start a race war by murdering nine black church worshipers in 2015.
At the protest this week the Confederate flag holders were upset that Newsome was speaking at the college. The counter-protesters were louder and more numerous that mostly consisted of Black Lives Matter members. Their leader, Muhiyidin d’Baha, is the one who crashed through the police tape on live TV to jump and take down the Confederate flag.
Police charged d’Baha with disorderly conduct but his $2,000 fine was quickly paid through crowdfunding.