Georgia indicts Confederate flag backers under state terrorism law

[October 13, 2015]  (Reuters) - More than a dozen supporters of the Confederate flag who clashed with a group of black people attending a child's birthday party in Georgia have been indicted on state charges of making "terroristic threats," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Monday.

The confrontation in Douglas County took place on July 25 amid a national debate about the controversial flag triggered by the June killing of nine black churchgoers in South Carolina.

The flag became a flashpoint after the white man accused of carrying out the racially motivated church shootings was seen in photographs posing with the flag, which was used by the pro-slavery South during the U.S. Civil War.

A grand jury in Douglas County, in the northwestern part of the state, on Friday handed down indictments against 15 members of the group "Respect the Flag" for making "terroristic threats" in violation of the state's Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, the AJC said, citing the district attorney's office.

Cell phone videos posted on social media showed more than a half dozen pickup trucks flying the Confederate and other flags gathering on a grassy area and at least one racial epithet was heard, the AJC said.

The woman who was hosting the birthday celebration next door said the convoy interrupted the party with threat and slurs.

The driver of one of the trucks is quoted in the AJC as saying the convoy was at a separate event, was driving home and, as it drove by the party, celebrants started yelling and throwing rocks.

Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler)

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.