SAN FRANCISCO — The stars and stripes became a center of controversy in Berkeley on Thursday when city administrators removed American flags from all firetrucks.
Citing the banners as a possible irritant to some who live in this diverse and historically opinionated city, Berkeley City Manager Weldon Rucker ordered them removed from the department's seven fire trucks and two support vehicles before an antiwar rally Thursday at UC Berkeley.
Officials said they were trying to avoid a repeat of violence that occurred during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, when demonstrators hurled rocks and bottles at city firetrucks sporting American flags. This week, the flag atop the Berkeley post office was burned in an anonymous act of protest, they said.
Mayor Shirley Dean and many firefighters are outraged, saying the flag's image has been sullied by a move the mayor calls "flat-out wrong."
For 10 days, many firefighters decked their trucks with 4-foot by 6-foot American flags, the only size available at a time when many stores statewide are sold out of the banners.
"There are lots of protesters out there right now, and the situation has the potential of getting out of hand very quickly," said David Orth, a spokesman for the Berkeley Fire Department. "If we went to a fire there with these big flags atop our trucks, somebody would do something--take them off and wave it or take it off and burn it.
"We don't need to worry about protecting the flag, which the guys would do, if their first job is performing a rescue or fighting fires."
An irked Mayor Dean said the move stains the flag as a symbol of peace and insults New York City firefighters who died last week trying to save victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Berkeley Fire Capt. Wayne Dismuke said firefighters were angry, especially because the flags continued to fly atop police cars. He said firefighters had raised $50,000 in five days to send to New York and believe they should be allowed to express their grief and respect.
"Our brother and sister firefighters perished in that attack; this is an insult," he said. "Who could object to flying the American flag? We thought those flags would fly regardless of anything."
The mayor and the city manager have issued dueling press releases.
Rucker says the situation is overblown and that the department is looking for smaller flags to fly on its trucks. He said he would reconsider the ban on a day-to-day basis if the demonstrations do not take a violent turn.
