Video: Protesters Burn American Flag Outside Northwest Detention Center

A group taking part in the continuing demonstrations outside the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, was filmed setting an American flag alight.

At least three people were seen outside the center attempting to burn the flag, using lighters and an accelerant believed to be gasoline.

Others taking part in the protest at the center, which holds undocumented children as part of the federal government's "zero policy" immigration policy, managed to extinguish the flames before the flag was destroyed.

"We are here to move past this and be progressive," one woman with a megaphone could be heard telling a crowd. "We're not here to burn flags."

Large groups have frequently gathered in Tacoma outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, with demonstrations increasing in the wake of the outcry over the separation of more than 2,000 children from their families.

Activists began setting up camp in front of the facility on June 23 to protest President Donald Trump's immigration policy.

Tacoma police have now ordered all the tents set up in the makeshift camp to be removed by 6 p.m. on Thursday.

The order was issued after 10 protesters were arrested as about 160 people rallied outside the center on Tuesday.

Police said about 40 people had blocked the road leading to the facility, while others surrounded a police car and one person jumped on the front of the vehicle, Tacoma police spokeswoman Loretta Cool told the Spokesman Review.

At least two people were arrested Tuesday night—one 68-year-old man and a second man who refused to give his name to police—were set to be charged with third-degree assault, resisting arrest and obstructing police, reports the News Tribune.

At least seven others who were arrested on suspicion of failing to disperse and obstructing traffic were later released without being charged, court records show.

Some demonstrators said the disorder broke out only after the police got involved. "No one was instigating or threatening violence on the police. They were the people who came and started a fight," Ezra Benner told Komo News.

"We haven't even so much as tried to block a bus," added fellow protester Angela Wambaugh. "We've been peaceful, and the violence did not occur until the police came, and I think they were trying to stop this movement."