ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A St. Petersburg pastor is speaking out after one of two charges against him and another city clergyman was dropped following their arrests during the state's removal of a "Black History Matters" street mural.

Reverend Ben Atherton-Zeman, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg, and Reverend Andy Oliver, pastor of Allendale United Methodist Church, were arrested Aug. 29 after kneeling in the middle of the road outside the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, where Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) crews were removing the mural.

“Pastor Andy and I were able to get onto the mural, were able to kneel down and start praying and I was praying that the mural would not be erased,” Atherton-Zeman said.

Instead, both pastors

See Full Page