Several individuals were holding large Confederate flags in downtown Hillsborough two Saturdays ago, drawing the attention of local business owners and residents in the area.

Mayor Tom Stevens said this isn’t a rare occurrence, with small groups standing on downtown street corners waving Confederate flags “from time to time.”

“It really does convey a message to a lot of people that they’re not welcome here,” Stevens said. He added standing on the corner waving a Confederate flag or placing them on the back of a truck “re-enact how the Confederate flag was used to intimidate people.”

Stevens said town police had been on the scene at the time in an attempt to keep everyone safe. But, Stevens conceded, the flaggers did have a right to be on the sidewalk.

“You have a right to be here,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not particularly welcome.”

Some business owners downtown had reportedly asked Hillsborough Police if there was any way the flaggers could be moved from the area. The owner of Matthew’s Chocolates, which opened in a new location in downtown Hillsborough last month, was the target of conversation after putting out a sign that read “Burn a Rebel Flag…Get a Free Chocolate!”

Stevens said Hillsborough Police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office have increased patrols around the chocolate shop and the owner’s home in response to multiple threats, which are continuing to be investigated.

In response to those with Confederate flags, the following Saturday counter protesters gathered in downtown Hillsborough and forced Matthew’s Chocolates to have to close for the weekend, because they bought all of his chocolate supply.

Another coalition of groups is now organizing a rally on Saturday calling on “community members to stand in solidarity with the anti-racist community of Hillsborough and those mourning all over the country for the lives lost to gun violence,” according to the event page. The rally is being held in the wake of what the organizers call “domestic terrorism in the form of white supremacist gun violence” after multiple shootings last weekend resulted in more than 30 individuals being killed.

The organizers echoed some of Stevens’ comment that the display of the Confederate flag is a display of “deliberate acts of racism and intimidation.”

Several of the groups participating in Saturday’s rally were part of the movement that resulted in Orange County Schools in 2017 banning the Confederate flag on school grounds.

The rally Saturday is scheduled for 11 a.m. in downtown Hillsborough.

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