US Confederate flag supporters charged for 'terroristic threats'

Washington: A group of white Confederate flag supporters in the US state of Georgia have been charged under an anti-gang law for disrupting an African-American birthday party with "terroristic threats," officials said Monday.

Fifteen members of the group were indicted for driving vehicles bearing Confederate flags to the celebration, where a confrontation ensued, Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a statement.

The document, which was posted online by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), alleges that members of the "Respect the Flag" group violated the state's Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

The charges, which were handed down Friday and also posted by SPLC, refer to the group as "a criminal street gang," and allege that it unlawfully participated "in criminal gang activity, specifically terroristic threats."

The birthday party host, Melissa Alford, said that a string of pickup trucks fluttering Confederate flags disrupted the July 25 event in Douglasville, just west of Atlanta, with threats and racial epithets, according to SPLC.