Selectwoman Melissa Schlag (pictured) was filmed kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance on July 16

A local elected official in Connecticut has caused a stir with her constituency after she was filmed taking a knee during the Pledge of Allegiance in protest of President Donald Trump.

Selectwoman Melissa Schlag was videotaped kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance on July 16 just before the beginning of a Board of Selectmen meeting.

Schlag said she took a knee in light of Trump's comments after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland earlier this month.

The municipal board member for Haddam, Connecticut said that despite some hesitation, she believed she was doing the right thing.

'I felt nervous when I did it but I also felt powerful,' the lawmaker told The Hartford Courant. 'If I don't speak up, those who can't won't be heard.'

But the protest has drawn a backlash in Schlag's small, bucolic town of 7,200, with some residents complaining the act is inappropriate and disrespectful.

Schlag said she took a knee in light of Trump's comments after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland

The municipal board member for Haddam, Connecticut said that despite some hesitation, she believed she was doing the right thing

'I felt nervous when I did it but I also felt powerful,' the lawmaker told The Hartford Courant. 'If I don't speak up, those who can't won't be heard'

'Disgusting, if you ask me,' 56-year-old welder Ken Pellegrini declared. 'That's our flag. It's disrespecting our whole country and that's not OK.'

But local business owner Bill Reinwald said that it's the President's rhetoric, and Schlag's right as an American, that justifies the demonstration.

'If Trump's behavior were better that would be one thing,' said Reinwald, 57. 'All this stuff with Putin especially.'

US President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin ahead a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018

'I support the flag,' Reinwald said, 'but people have a right to do what they want.

Top Republican officials in the state have spoken out against the local lawmaker, seeking to capitalize on the incident politically while voters are paying attention.

'She needs to resign immediately,' Tim Herbst, a former Trumbull, Conn., mayor and now Republican gubernatorial candidate, said on 'Fox & Friends' Wednesday.

'One of the things the flag stands for—it stands for our freedom, it stands for our democracy. It stands for the fundamental ideal that we can have differences of opinion, but we all stand in respect of our flag because many people, including my 93-year-old grandfather who's a veteran, fought in defense of the very liberty that the flag resembles.'

Chairman of the Republican Party in Connecticut, J.R. Romano, believes Schlag's protest is part of a larger effort by Democrats 'trying to grab headlines and be in a perpetual state of rage,' he told the Courant.

Trump faced bipartisan criticism over his joint press conference with Putin last week after it appeared the President was siding with Moscow's denial of election meddling over the assessment of the US intelligence community.

'She needs to resign immediately,' Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Herbst (pictured) said on 'Fox & Friends' Wednesday

Trump attempted to clarify his statements the next day, claiming that he misspoke at the summit and agreed with his own security officials.

Schlag's protest mirrors free agent NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's demonstration, who refused to stand during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police violence and social inequality.

The protest caused a league-wide movement that culminated in more that 200 players participating in the protest last year.

Schlag said she expected some backlash following her protest, but insisted that she was just following the strength of her convictions.

'I didn't kneel because I hated my country,' Schlag told the Courant. 'I knelt because I love my country.'

Trump narrowly won Haddam in 2016.