Stacey Abrams' campaign defends his participation in the 1992 Georgia flag fire

Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for the Georgia governorship race, participated in a protest in 1992 that included the burning of the state's flag, confirmed her campaign on Tuesday. The "authorized peaceful protest" was part of its opposition to Confederate symbolism in the flag, campaign spokeswoman Abigail Collazo told CBS News in a statement.

Abrams, who would be the The first female African American governor in the United States participated in a protest that included a flag fire on the steps of the Georgia Capitol while she was at the university in Georgia, according to a report released on Monday. in the New York Times. His involvement in the protest circulated on social media, including a 1992 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in which a photo of Abrams was participating in the protest, the Times reported.

The revelation comes as Abrams is scheduled to debate Tuesday its Republican opponent, Georgian Secretary of State Brian Kemp, two weeks before the November 6 election.

"Stacey was involved in a peaceful demonstration authorized against the Confederate emblem in the flag" at a time when a "conversation was sweeping over Georgia" about the flag change, Collazo said. The state, she added, "was at a crossroads" when Abrams was at the university and was looking to "overcome the problems of racial division, including symbols of confederation" .

During the demonstration, in 1992, the state flag contained the emblem of the Confederate battle flag. The emblem of the Confederate battle flag was not completely removed from the state flag until 2003.

Abrams, 44, spoke of the issue of Confederate memorials as part of the governor's race and called for the removal of Confederate sculpture on Stone Mountain near Atlanta. At the same time, Kemp announced that he would protect the monument, which represents Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, from the "radical left".