article_snippet.sent: Student demonstrators who walked on an American flag to protest racism sparked a countermovement, prompting a south Georgia university to cancel classes Friday ahead of a rally that drew hundreds to Valdosta.
article_snippet.sent: Valdosta State University found Valdosta State University in the center of a controversy after a video shared on social media showed an Air Force veteran and former Playboy model, Michelle Manhart, taking an American flag from demonstrators who had walked on it to protest racism.
article_snippet.sent: Closed: Uproar over a protest in which demonstrators walked on an American flag has prompted a south Georgia university to cancel classes ahead of the rally expected to draw crowds of flag supporters to Valdosta .
article_snippet.sent: the flag-walking demonstration involved three protesters, university spokesman Andy Clark said.
article_snippet.sent: Critics saw the university as siding with demonstrators who walked on a large American flag over a military veteran trying to save the university. '
article_snippet.sent: Video footage of the event, last Friday, shows Michelle Manhart struggling with officers, who force Michelle Manhart to the ground after Michelle Manhart refuses to let a large American flag go.
article_snippet.sent: It shows Michelle Manhart surrounded by protesters on the campus, who demand their property be returned.
article_snippet.sent: Campus police try to convince Michelle Manhart to drop a large American flag, but Manhart, a former training sergeant who served in Kuwait, refuses.
article_snippet.sent: Speaking to the Valdosta Daily Times about Michelle Manhart intervention, Michelle Manhart said: 'I did not want anything like this, but I got a call from a student who told me that a large American flag was on the ground, and they were walking on a large American flag. '
article_snippet.sent: Cause: Manhart came to the campus because Manhart heard students were walking on a large American flag, as seen above .
article_snippet.sent: In response to the incident, the university's president says the university's president disapproves of the flag-trampling protest, but recognizes their right to express their that way if their choose.
highlights_snippet.sent: Hundreds protested an Air Force vet and former Playboy model's arrest when she tried to stop people from trampling on a flag .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Former USAF training sergeant took flag from campus protesters on Friday .
  