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Brooklyn Bridge flags returned to U.S. Embassy in Berlin

German artists return American flags they removed from Brooklyn Bridge to U.S. embassy in Berlin.

By Danielle Haynes

BERLIN, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- German conceptual artists returned the original American flags they replaced with white flags on the Brooklyn Bridge to the U.S. embassy in Berlin, police said.

The artists, Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke, took credit earlier this month for removing two American flags situated more than 275 feet above mean high water on the East River. The original flags were replaced with two white flags.

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The original flags were returned Friday.

"They returned the flags to the embassy. There has been no determination on charges," a law enforcement official told ABC News.

The stunt, which was noticed at the end of July, caused a bit of a hysteria in New York with some people speculating the swap was a terrorist threat.

Leinkauf and Wermke told the New York Times the flag swap was not an "anti-American statement." They scaled the structure as part of an art exhibition honoring the German designer of the bridge, John Roebling, on the anniversary of his death.

There's no word on whether U.S. officials plan to file charges against the artists.

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