Confederate flag supporters flock to the 'Florida Southern Pride Ride' in Ocala: reports

Ocala police investigating after shots fired near Confederate flag rally

WFTV - Orlando, FL

Thousands of Confederate flag supporters rallied in central Florida on Sunday afternoon.

The blue-and-red-clad drivers of some 2,000 trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles flocked to the town of Ocala for a 17-mile parade in support of county officials’ decision to return the stars and bars to a site outside a Marion County government complex, The Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Someone reportedly fired at least six gunshots in the direction of the so-called “Florida Southern Pride Ride,” but no one was injured, according to WFTV. Police tweaked the parade route after receiving word of threats against the demonstrators in one of the town’s neighborhoods, the Star-Banner reported.

Attendees were wearing t-shirts with slogans like “Heritage not hate” as they defended the rebel symbol.

“This is my flag,” Bryan Williams told WFTV. “It just means this is the South flag. Nothing against anybody. That’s just what I was raised under. I carry it with me all the time.”

BRUCE ACKERMAN/OCALA STAR-BANNER /LANDOV

Keeper Greene, a 2-year-old from of Clermont, draped in a Rebel flag, waves a Confederate flag with his father, Brian, at the start of the Florida Southern Pride Ride at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in Ocala, Fla., on Sunday.

A General Lee reproduction car modeled on the one from “The Dukes of Hazzard” led the ride, and most of the demonstrators were white, according to the local paper.

The flag signifies “good living, respect, and honesty,” said African-American attendee Dwayne Webb, 23, of Ocala. "It’s a positive movement.”

But a group of counter-protesters called attention to the flag’s association with avowed white supremacist Charleston shooter Dylann Roof.

“What if your heritage is rooted in hate?” Tampa resident Laila Abdelaziz told the Star-Banner. “You have to confront that.”

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JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

Confederate and U.S. flags fly from trucks during a rally in Loxahatchee, Fla., on Saturday.

Local leaders had vowed Tuesday to return the Confederate battle flag to the McPherson Governmental Complex after taking it down in the wake of the massacre in Charleston last month.

With News Wire Services

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