People are burning US flags outside Trump's hotel in response to his recent threat about flag-burning

The President-elect suggests those who burn the American flag should face legal consequences or lose their citizenship

Supporters of the 'NYC Revolution Club' burn the US flag outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

A group of activists in the US has burned the American flag outside the Trump International Hotel in New York in response to a tweet by Donald Trump.

The President-elect said yesterday that those who burn the American flag should face legal consequences or lose their citizenship.

The protest in New York involved seven members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, whose members participated in flag-burning at the Republican National Convention.

Flag-burning is not a crime and the US Supreme Court ruled in 1989 it was a form of protest protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Those who support Mr Trump took to social media to point out that many other politicians had proposed making flag-burning illegal in the past.

Hilary Clinton, while a US senator, co-sponsored a bill in 2005, which ultimately did not pass, that would have made it a crime to incite violence by burning a flag - although she did not suggest people should have their citizenship removed.

It also proposed that threatening another person with a burning flag or destroy or damage a flag belonging to someone else should be made illegal.

The protests come as Mr Trump announced he will leave his business to concentrate on being President-elect.

Mr Trump did not provide any further detail about what would happen to the Trump Organization, but it is expected he will pass it on to his children in an arrangement that is still likely to draw criticism