A Black Lives Matter protester was arrested after trying to grab a Confederate flag from a man outside a lecture on direct action.

The incident was captured during a live TV broadcast in Charleston, South Carolina, as the man pushed through a barricade to snatch the flag, seen by activists as a symbol of racism and a relic of America's past.

Bree Newsome, the woman who was arrested for removing the Confederate flag from South Carolina's state house before it was taken down permanently in 2015, was due to give the talk on Wednesday.

Footage shows the protester, named locally as Muhiyidin Moye, dashing across a street to rip the flag from the other man's hands.

But he fails to take it and is tackled by police. ABC4 reported he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.