CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Video shows a Confederate flag run that moved through parts of Central Virginia Saturday afternoon.
Organizers said the event was planned to show support for the flag in the wake of its removal from outside the State House in Columbia, South Carolina Friday. [PHOTO GALLERY: Click the “submit your photo” button at the bottom of this story to add a pic or video to the gallery]
“You can ban the flag on a government building but you cannot ban the flag in your hand or in your house, that’s freedom of speech and that’s one thing we will always have,” said Jerry Dyson, with the flag run.
The run started at 5300 River Road in Petersburg. The group said participants would start meeting at 11:30 a.m. and the procession would start around 12:30 p.m.
Organizers said 145 trucks took part in the run, which traveled through Dinwiddie County and Chesterfield counties.
Jerry Dyson III, one of the event organizers, stressed the event was about heritage, not hate.
“It’s not racist,” Dyson said. “It’s not a man in a robe, or a man who shoots up a church or a school to represent us all. It’s not. It’s history.”
WTVR CBS 6 News has received some reports some drivers may have been targeted by people throwing bottles at their trucks. But area law enforcement agencies said no such incidents were reported to police.
WTVR CBS 6 senior reporter Wayne Covil talked to the granddaughter of a Confederate soldier Friday about what she has to say about the flag’s removal. Click here to read that part of the story.
