Students at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs let their freak flags fly Friday, and their actions got the school on lockdown.

On Wednesday, a student tweeted about a school administrator taking away her Haitian flag, which she had brought to the school on that country’s Flag Day. That led students to band together and bring flags from not just Haiti, but Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Pakistan, the United Kingdom — all over the world — to school in order to stage a protest.

Mariah Lewis, 18, a junior from Coral Springs, wore a shirt in the colors of the Colombian flag.

“It’s to show your nationality and [if you wear it], they can’t take it away from you,” she said. Of the Haitian student, she added: “She had the right to represent where she was from.”

But the protest was also on the traditional senior prank day. What could have been a peaceful event turned into a ruckus, students said, when word spread that the student who had tweeted about losing her Haitian flag had landed in in-school suspension. Students said classmates released live crickets on campus, stole and smashed a golf cart, and tossed cans of iced tea into the air to have them crash and explode. Food fights were also reported.

Taravella Principal Shawn Cerra declined comment and referred calls to the school’s public information officers.

According to Coral Springs police, one student was arrested on allegations of property damage.

“Students are absolutely allowed and encouraged to celebrate their heritage. However, in doing so, students are not allowed to disrupt the school day or violate the Code of Student Conduct,” said Broward County Schools spokesperson Tracy Clark.

Clark added that no one had been disciplined for code-of-conduct violations either Wednesday or Friday.

The district’s code of conduct states that all caps, hats and other head coverings are not allowed, except for safety equipment and religious garb. Clark said the situation at Taravella was “brought under control quickly by school leadership and local law enforcement. The school was placed on a modified lockdown and students returned to their classes. The modified lockdown remained in effect until dismissal this afternoon.”

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