Chaos at RNC as Police Scuffle With Flag-Burning Protesters

Cleveland police say about a dozen people have been taken into custody and will be arrested following a chaotic protest near the arena housing the Republican National Convention, the AP reports. Lt. Michael Butler of the Cleveland Police Department said Wednesday that charges were pending for between 10 and 16 people. The arrests happened as a protest group tried to burn a flag near Quicken Loans Arena. Police said two officers suffered minor injuries after being assaulted during the flag burning. Police issued a dispersal order for everyone, including reporters. The protests briefly made it difficult for convention delegates and reporters to enter the arena.

Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party, which organized the flag burning, said the group hoped to conduct the event as a political statement quickly before police came. Police said the flag was extinguished and taken away. Police used pepper spray on the crowd as the flag burning group locked arms. The incident was the most chaotic protest to hit the convention so far. (More Republican National Convention stories.)