Video: Man Sets Fire to American Flag on July 4th in Walmart Parking Lot: 'This Country F*****G Hates You'

A man has been arrested after he was filmed setting fire to an American flag outside of a Walmart on July 4.

Mitchell Stauffer, 22, was arrested on suspicion of burning an object in a public place with the intent to intimidate. The incident took place outside the store in the 2600 block of George Washington Memorial Highway on Independence Day.

Cellphone footage captured the suspect throwing the flag on the ground, pouring an accelerant on it and setting it alight.

The man in the video can be heard saying "this country f*****g hates you," after setting the flat on fire. "They wouldn't give a s**t if you die," he adds. The suspect then gets in his vehicle and drives away.

In a statement, the York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office confirmed that Stauffer was not arrested for the act of flag burning, which is protected by the First Amendment, but for burning an object in a public place with the intent to intimidate.

"The burning of our great American Flag is very offensive to most people including me," Sheriff J. D Diggs said.

"That being said, the courts have ruled that act alone is an expression of free speech and not per se illegal. This charge is appropriate under the Code of Virginia. It is fortunate that no one was injured today."

If convicted of the Class 6 felony, Stauffer faces a sentence of between one and five years in jail and a $2,500 fine.

In Washington D.C, a group of protesters took part in a flag burning in front of the White House ahead of President Donald Trump's "Salute to America" speech.

Members of the New York City Revolution Club took part in the flag burning in protest at the migrant detention centers, as well as the those killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past two decades.

According to the group, at least two of their members were arrested following clashes following the protest. They included Gregory Lee Johnson, who famously launched a case arguing the act of flag burning is protected by the First Amendment after he was arrested for setting fire to one outside the 1984 Republican convention.

According to The Hill, one person was arrested on suspicion felony assault on a police officer and malicious burning, and the other for allegedly obstructing a police investigation and resisting arrest.

"On July 4 this year, we invite you not only to 'conceive of a world without America,' but to fight and work for that world," the Revolution Club said in a previous statement.

"On that day, this flag so soaked in the blood of 'barbarity and hypocrisy' will burn in symbolic places around this country. This will be a bold statement of truth and a declaration that we have had enough; and a clarion call to revolution and the emancipation of ALL humanity.

"Be part of this. Spread the word through social media. And do your own flag-burning on that day where you are. Another world IS possible—if we dare to fight for it."