CLEVELAND, Ohio — The city of Cleveland agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a protester arrested at a flag-burning demonstration at the Republican National Convention in 2016, according to a news release from the man’s attorneys.

Steven Fridley of Cleveland said in a lawsuit filed in October that the city, police Chief Calvin Williams and officers unlawfully prosecuted him for exercising his free-speech rights.

Fridley was one of 18 people arrested following a flag burning at the RNC by Gregory “Joey” Johnson and other protesters, many of whom are members of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

The event happened on July 20, 2016 at East 4th Street and Prospect Avenue, outside the security perimeter around the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, then known as the Quicken Loans Arena. Word of it quickly spread before it happened, and a crowd of journalists, police and spectators crammed into the intersection.

When Johnson lit the flag on fire, he also ignited his pants, according to investigators and witnesses, and police said they stepped in to prevent the hundreds gathered in the crowded intersection from getting hurt. Firefighters rushed to put the blaze out and police descended on Johnson and the other protesters, witnesses and authorities said.

Police also said some of the protesters were combative and injured officers responding to the melee. Fridley, however, said officers pursued “sham charges” in order to conceal their true motivations – censor a lawful protest. His lawsuit said police used a fire extinguisher the moment Johnson lit the flag on fire.

Fridley was charged with obstructing official business, failure to comply with a lawful order, and aggravated disorderly conduct. Cleveland Municipal Judge Charles Patton dismissed the charges against Fridley and 11 others in October 2017, ruling that the defendants charged were engaging in constitutionally protected speech at the time of the incident.

In his ruling, Patton rejected arguments from city prosecutors that said the charges stemmed from failing to disperse once the flag burning ended.

“This case is a timely reminder that respect for dissent is more patriotic than censorship, and even clear instructions from the Supreme Court cannot prevent Orwellian ordeals,” Patrick Kabat, a lawyer representing Fridley, said in a statement.

Cleveland Law Director Barbara Langhenry said in a statement Wednesday that the settlement was paid through protest insurance the city purchased for the RNC.

“The City of Cleveland denies any liability and disputes the plaintiff’s version of the facts," Langhenry said.

Johnson was arrested at the RNC in Dallas in 1984 for burning a flag, which caused the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in 1989 that flag burning constituted free speech. He was arrested at the 2016 RNC as well and also sued the city of Cleveland over his 2016 arrest. Johnson, whose charges were later dropped, also sued the conspiracy theory-peddling website InfoWars and its operator Alex Jones.

Joseph Biggs and Jordan Salkin, who worked for InfoWars, were also sued because they were listed in charging documents in Johnson’s case. However, Biggs made a YouTube video that said he was an aggressor, not a victim, according to Johnson’s lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. dismissed Jones and the InfoWars defendants from Johnson’s suit in March.

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