CLANTON, Ala. (WIAT) — Police say a racially charged clash in Clanton involved baseball bats, Confederate flags and damaged vehicles. Now a rebel flag supporter who was arrested for disorderly conduct is giving his side of the story.

According to Clanton Police, a caravan of vehicles with mounted Confederate flags ran into fierce resistance in the city’s West End area late Wednesday night.

Clanton Deputy Police Chief Keith Maddox said they received reports that racial slurs were shouted before residents damaged two vehicles with bats and/or rocks.

“You had one group that brought this symbol that created some problems in the area and antagonized some folks. And then the ones that were antagonized then took it a step further and started doing property damage, so you know really both are wrong,” said Maddox.

Police were already in the area because of a fire and one officer who saw the conflict escalating responded then called for backup according to Maddox.

One of the Confederate flag supporters whose vehicle was damaged was 20- year-old Jeremy Varden. The Clanton resident was arrested for disorderly conduct, according to Maddox.

“At that point he was very belligerent. He gave the officer a lot of problems. The officer tried to calm him down and he wouldn’t calm down and the officer ended up having to arrest him for disorderly conduct,” said Maddox. “The people that were in these vehicles were, best we can tell 18 to very early 20’s and they just used very poor judgment. Under the current climate you don’t really want to do anything like that to antagonize anybody.”

Jeremy Varden was not willing to speak on camera, but he did share his side of the story with WIAT 42 News.

He said that he and his friends were in vehicles with flags, but were only trying to get to the scene of the fire nearby where a large number of people had gathered. Varden says that he’s not a racist, and that no one in his truck yelled any racist slurs. He said he has several black friends.

Veronica Perkins lives off 4^th Avenue South in Clanton where the clash occurred.

She wasn’t involved, but she told WIAT 42 News that she’s convinced the vehicles with Confederate flags were on her street for one reason only.

“No it was, it was to cause trouble. And to me personally they’re showing their basic true colors,” said Perkins.

“I think it was just total nonsense and when you’re at home that’s as far as you can go. You can’t go any further than home and everybody out here, most of us work, but you know we’ve got children in this neighborhood too. You know I’ve got a 12-year-old granddaughter right here that I’m raising. So I don’t want anything to happen to her and that’s why I keep her in, but it’s nonsense to me,” Perkins said.

“We didn’t ask Governor Bentley to take the flag down. He did that all on his own. We had nothing to do with that,” she continued.

Clanton Police are stepping up patrols in the area, according to Maddox.

Copyright 2015 WIAT 42 News