And, to be honest, it really comes as no surprise. Why? As someone who graduated from a university where protests were common (UNC-Chapel Hill), I’m pretty familiar with leftist protest types. A fair percentage are anarchists, Trotskyists, etc. And get enough of them together for long enough, and they’ll do something that utterly undermines their claim to represent “the 99 percent.” Like burn two American flags in the middle of the night.

Burning an American flag is protested under the First Amendment as political speech. Burning items without using a fire pit is a no-no though, and that’s what Jason Bargert, Michael Behrle, Stephen Morris, and Alex Tyler were arrested for. Bargert has acted as a spokesman for Occupy Charlotte.

Some charming quotes from Tyler:

“‘I’ve seen this group lose its activism and become lazy,’ said Tyler, adding that the other men told him, ‘We’re going to give Occupy Charlotte a wake-up call.’”

but also

“‘Those were actions taken on my own behalf,’ Alex Tyler said at a camp meeting. ‘I did it to display my utter contempt for American greed, not (the military).’”

Nice double-talk there. I’m guessing that 99 percent of Americans and even some Occupy types would not agree with him that the American flag is the ultimate symbol of greed. Hundreds of thousands of Americans did, however, die to protect the land that the flag symbolizes and that is something that 99 percent of Americans do associate with the flag.

Bonus observation: Why exactly is this below the fold on the front page of the local news section of the Charlotte Observer?