On Friday, January 18, Native people and allies took to the streets of Washington, D.C., to participate in the Indigenous Peoples March — an event organized by the Indigenous Peoples Movement to support the rights of Native communities and raise awareness of the vast injustices indigenous people have faced for centuries.

It was there, at the Lincoln Memorial, where a now-viral video was filmed. The clip appears to show a group of MAGA-hat wearing teenagers allegedly intimidating an indigenous elder and several other activists at the march. Many people have expressed anger at the incident, but others are dismissing the behavior as a “youthful mistake.”

According to CNN, the video was initially filmed and posted to Instagram on Saturday by Kaya Taitano, a University of the District of Columbia student who attended the march. The video shows a smiling teenager wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, standing inches from a drumming and singing indigenous elder. A few feet away, other teenagers can be seen laughing, some pointing their phones at the activists. Kaya told CNN that some of the teenagers were yelling “Build the wall” and “Trump 2020,” adding: “I did not feel safe in that circle.”

The indigenous elder in the video was later identified by Indian Country Today as Nathan Phillips, a Vietnam War veteran, former director of the Native Youth Alliance, and member of the Omaha Nation. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Phillips, 64, claimed that the teenagers were reacting to some black Israelites who were allegedly shouting inflammatory language. He chose to intervene, explaining, “When I took that drum and started singing, I placed myself in between these two factions of people. It wasn't a real conscious process, it was just what they call a spur of the moment.”

Phillips further described the scene as “ugly” to the Washington Post, adding, “I was thinking, I’ve got to find myself an exit out of this situation and finish my song at the Lincoln Memorial. I started going that way, and that guy in the hat stood in my way, and we were at an impasse. He...wouldn’t allow me to retreat.” Following the incident, Phillips also spoke further with Kaya, who publicized her brief interview with the elder on Instagram: “You know, this is indigenous lands,” Phillips said. “We’re not supposed to have walls here — we never did for millennia, before anybody else came here.”

The MAGA-hat wearing teens were soon recognized as students from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky, BuzzFeed News reports, adding that they were in D.C. to attend the anti-abortion “March for Life” rally. In a statement on the school's website, the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High commented, “We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general…. We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.” Their statement also said that school officials would be investigating the incident further and that the students could potentially face expulsion.