Following a protest that involved burning the American flag without a open-burning permit on the Pedestrian Mall last week, a local stood in the same spot this afternoon in defense of the flag.

Cedar Rapids resident Curtiss Ainesworth said that as a veteran, the flag is more than a symbol of who is in the office as president of the United States.

“This flag was here before the presidents were, this flag was here before the issues were,” he said. “It’s a symbol of the American Dream, and it’s a symbol of hope. It’s not a symbol of who’s in the office.”

He said he was standing with the flag partially in response to last week’s flag burnings. Additionally, Ainesworth voiced support for the Blue Lives Matter movement and viewed killings of police officers as problematic, and he said he approved of stricter border laws because he believes minorities are typically the ones trying to kill police officers.

“I support Black Lives Matter because black lives do matter, but I don’t support violence, the destruction of property, the killing of cops, destruction of vehicles,” he said. “I think that’s nonsense … Just as many white cops are killing white guys as there are white cops killing black guys.”

Ultimately, Ainesworth acknowledged the First Amendment rights people have to burn the flag, but he would prefer people make political statements through other means.

“To use the flag as a political symbol to say you don’t mind [U.S. President Donald] Trump, you don’t like [Democratic presidential nominee] Hillary Clinton, to use the flag, to burn the flag, I don’t think is correct,” he said.

Around noon Jan. 26, a group of protesters took to the Ped Mall to rally against the “corrupted policies that forged America.” Protesters said reasons for the rally were the genocide of Native Americans, the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and some of America’s foreign policy as reasons to assemble.

Paul Osgerby (a former DI Opinions writer) and Kelli Ebensberger, who were part of the group, were eventually cited by the Iowa City police.