Student caught on video removing almost 3,000 flags from September 11 display as a protest

A member of Washington University's student government removed nearly 3,000 U.S. flags meant to commemorate victims of the Sept. 11 attacks from a display on campus and put them in trash bags, prompting an investigation by the school.

The university's chapter of College Republicans had placed the 2,977 flags – one for every life lost on 9/11 -- on Mudd Field in St. Louis Friday to commemorate Saturday's 20th anniversary of the attacks. Fadel Alkilani, a vice president of finance for the Student Union, acknowledged that he took the flags on Saturday and put them in plastic bags as part of a protest, but said was interrupted when another student began recording video of him. The video showed him carrying four-to-five large, clear bags.