Flashback to Baton Rouge, 2011. A student stood before throngs of his peers at Louisiana State University determined to send a message:
He set out to burn the American flag.
LSU graduate student Ben Haas attempted to organize a flag burning protest in response to the arrest and incarceration of Isaac Eslava, a fellow student who cut down an American flag and defaced the campus's war memorial just hours after President Obama announced Osama bin Laden's death by a U.S. Navy SEAL.
Haas sought to protest Eslava’s charges using the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process clause as his justification. Eslava did an estimated $7,530 worth of damage to the university's war memorial. The man would have faced an arrest no matter what.
The protester was barely able to speak as an estimated 2,500 students overwhelmed his demonstration with a protest of their own. Decked out in red, white and blue, a massive crowd surged toward him and his cronies chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” while assailing him with water balloons and ice. Perhaps his most fervent opponent was a soldier who screamed into Hass's ear, "My brothers died for you!"
Unable to carry out his plans, Haas was eventually escorted away by police, fearing for his safety.
Watch the event unfold in the videos below: