Story highlights Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said surveillance video shows two white males placing the flags

The church pastor called the act "provocative to say the least"

(CNN) Confederate battle flags were found Thursday morning on the grounds of Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, police and church officials said.

Ebenezer Baptist Church is best known as the church where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was baptized and where he, along with his father, served as a pastor. The National Historic Site is adjacent to the church.

"This act by a cowardly and misguided individual or individuals is provocative to say the least," said the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer.

Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said surveillance video shows two white males placing the flags. Turner said police are working with federal partners, the National Park Service, Joint Terrorism Task Force and Atlanta's Homeland Security Unit. Police said they may release the surveillance video to the public.

Photos: Evolution of the Confederate flag Photos: Evolution of the Confederate flag A veteran of the Confederate States of America examines a Union water bottle in front of a Confederate flag. Here's a look at the evolution of that flag. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Evolution of the Confederate flag The first national flag of the Confederate States of America was created in 1861 and had seven stars to represent the breakaway states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Evolution of the Confederate flag The second National Flag of the Confederacy was issued by the Confederate Congress on May 1, 1863. This flag was designed to have a distinct difference from the Union's Stars and Stripes. Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Evolution of the Confederate flag The third National Flag of the Confederacy was the final flag of the Confederate government and was adopted on March 4, 1865. The flag was not used long before the Confederacy surrendered. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Evolution of the Confederate flag The Confederate Battle flag known as the "Southern Cross" has 13 stars to represent the defeated Confederate States of America. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Evolution of the Confederate flag Dixiecrats resurrected the "Southern Cross" flag as a political symbol around the time President Harry Truman supported efforts to end lynchings and desegregate the military in 1948. During that same period, the Ku Klux Klan began using the flag more widely. Hide Caption 6 of 6

Described by many as the birthplace of the civil rights movement, the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia have often been at the nexus of race tensions in America, including a movement to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, which had been put there in the 1950s -- many say as a symbol of support for segregation and protest against the civil rights movement.

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