Woman removes Confederate flag in front of SC statehouse

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Confederate flag was temporarily removed from the front of the South Carolina Statehouse today when a woman climbed the flagpole and — despite calls by police to get down – removed the banner.

Bree Newsome, 30, of Charlotte, N.C., was about halfway up the more than 30-foot steel flagpole just after dawn today when officers of the South Carolina Bureau of Protective Services ran to the flagpole and told her to get down. Instead, she continued climbing to the top and removed the flag.

She and a man who had climbed over a four-foot wrought-iron fence to get to the flag were arrested.

The flag, which is protected by state law, was raised about 45 minutes later, well ahead of a rally later by supporters of keeping the flag where it is.

Sherri Iacobelli, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, said Newsome and James Ian Tyson, 30, also of Charlotte, have been charged with defacing monuments on state Capitol grounds. That's a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $5,000 and a prison term of up to three years or both.

A staff member at the Alvin Glenn Detention Center, where the two were taken, said she did not know if they had attorneys.