A protester who was arrested after burning a flag at the 2016 Republican National Convention on Wednesday was the very man who fought to make flag-burning legal.

Gregory "Joey" Johnson, a longtime self-described revolutionary communist, was arrested at the RNC in Dallas on Aug. 22, 1984, after setting fire to a U.S. flag at protests against then-President Ronald Reagan.

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Johnson was convicted of "desecration of a venerated object." His landmark case, Texas v. Johnson, went through Texas courts until it was taken to the Supreme Court.

In 1989, SCOTUS ruled five-to-four that flag-burning is a form of political expression protected by the First Amendment.

It is not clear what, if any, charges Johnson faces. Debra Sweet, the press officer for the Revolution Club, which organized the demonstration, told Salon that, as of noon on Thursday, they had not been told if Johnson was formally charged.

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Sweet was told that Johnson would be facing misdemeanor charges, but did not know what kind. She suspected it may be failure to disperse.

Members of the Revolution Club are in court, waiting, Sweet said. "We are being told there have been delays."

"This is very concerning," she added, noting that Cleveland had been preparing for massive protests at the RNC, and had even set up a special court to expedite the release of arrested activists.

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"We don't really know what is going on," Sweet said. "We are not being told when he could be out of jail." She recalled they were first told he would be released at 1:30 pm, then they were told maybe after 6 pm.

The National Lawyers Guild, which is helping protesters arrested at the RNC, could not be reached for comment.

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A total of 22 people at the action were arrested, including 17 members of the Revolution Club, Sweet said.

Salon contacted the Cleveland prosecutors' office, asking if the arrested protesters had been charged. "We don't have any comment," a spokesperson said.

Police pepper-sprayed the activists from the Revolutionary Communist Party at the flag-burning demonstration on Wednesday.

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Before setting fire to the flag, Johnson declared, “Donald Trump's message of America first is a fascist message of control over the people of the world, waging unending war to exploit people all over the planet."

"America is number one?" he continued. "America always has been first – at genocide, at slavery, at exploitation, and destruction of the environment, at torture, at coup d'états."