US police are investigating after
four Confederate flags were found on the grounds of a church near the
Martin Luther King Jr Center in
Atlanta.The flags, which were placed neatly on the ground, were discovered at about 06:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Thursday by a maintenance worker.
No eyewitnesses have come forward yet but security camera footage of the area was being reviewed, police said.
The flag is very divisive in the US and seen as a symbol of slavery by critics.
Staff were disturbed when they came across the flags at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, according to the Reverend Shannon Jones.
"Our groundsmen were so upset, they took pictures and then they moved them," she told reporters.
She said the church has been holding a conference on the role on black churches in social justice issues this week.
Police said a security guard had seen a suspicious vehicle parked near the church on Wednesday night, but it is unclear if it was involved.
Mr King once preached at the church in Georgia's capital.
The Confederate flag the battle emblem of the southern states in the US Civil War, and its supporters today say it is an important part of southern heritage.
The backlash against it grew when nine black people were shot dead at a South Carolina church in June. The man charged with the killings, Dylann Roof, was pictured holding the flag.
Source: BBC
No comments:
Post a Comment