YouTube The Rev. Bud Green claimed responsibility for the deed on his website. A marijuana activist says he’s the one who smoked Brooklyn Bridge security by plotting the swap of the American flags on both towers with white ones.
The Rev. Bud Green claimed responsibility for the July 22 deed on his website.
Green, 49, called the Daily News on Thursday to say that the flag replacement was actually the first part of what was to be a two-part strategy, with another set of banners going up later. But the increased NYPD surveillance on the bridge put a kibosh on a second switch.
“It was interesting that nobody knew what to make of it,” Green said. “It was interesting that people took it as a terror risk. We believe in nonviolent civil disobedience. The government has everybody scared s——s. Was Martin Luther King Jr. a terrorist? Was Abbie Hoffman a terrorist? The government is trying to silence people.”
Green, who’s based in Southern California, said he’s the founder of the POT Party — People Opposing Tyranny — which is pro-marijuana and anti-government.
He said “people in New York” contacted him after he posted a “Pledge of No Allegiance” anti-government screed on his website July 4.
The front page of the New York Daily News on July 23, one day after the swap. He came up with the idea of swapping out the American flags. Green said the men who actually did the job are “professionals” and that he doesn’t know their names.
“The people who contacted me are big Obama supporters and they’re disappointed in him. He fed the military-industrial complex,” Green said.
Green identified himself as a former producer for the “Jerry Springer Show” and a marijuana activist since the 1980s.
Asked to verify his involvement in the plot, he replied, “You look at my history and you’ll see I’m telling the truth. I didn’t personally do it, but it was my idea. I believe in being showy and being political. You have to make a spectacle of yourself.”
He also noted he is the only person who actually has claimed responsibility for the stunt.
Was Martin Luther King Jr. a terrorist? Was Abbie Hoffman a terrorist? The government is trying to silence people.
He said the white flags were symbolic in several respects.
“It keeps people wondering what they were about. It stands for peace. It stands for surrender. It would make people think about what’s going in. Also the wars. Our solution to the wars is for people to smoke weed and chill out.”
The plan was to follow up the white flags at a later date with two more flags, a large green marijuana leaf on a white background and the words “Don’t Tread on Me” and a second banner with a General Electric logo covered with a Nazi swastika with bombs and guns in the background. He said he picked GE because it owns NBC and he wants to draw attention to large corporations owning the media.
“The government, the media, they control the flag and that flag is bull–t,” he said. “It doesn’t stand for freedom. It stands for tyranny.”
The placement of two bleached-white flags where two U.S. flags were supposed to be proudly waving above the bridge’s two 276-foot towers was front-page news.
Anderson / Splash News White flags are seen flying over the two towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, but how they got there is a mystery. 
James Keivom/New York Daily News Flag maintenance workers hoist an American flag on the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday afternoon after two flags were swiped. 
James Keivom/New York Daily News Members of the New York Police Department scale the Brooklyn Bridge to remove the white flag Tuesday morning. 
richard Harbus for New York Daily News Officers remove the white flag from one of the Brooklyn Bridge towers, but how it got there remains a mystery.Enlarge
New Yorkers wondered how anyone could scale the famed 131-year-old landmark undetected.
Afterward, security was ramped-up at the bridge.
Some worried about what would happen if someone with more nefarious motives could climb the bridge so easily.
It was not the first terror scare on the iconic bridge over the East River.
Back in May 2013, an SUV was found abandoned on the middle of the bridge, halting traffic for hours as authorities worried if a bomb was inside. Before Sept. 11, an actual terrorist, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, ordered an underling to cut away the bridge’s suspension cables.
EXCLUSIVE: Marijuana activist claims he's behind Brooklyn Bridge's white flags
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