Tensions between demonstrators and police escalate on fifth day of protests for Palestine

Dozens of tents in the pro-Palestinian “Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on UNC’s Polk Place remained standing into the early hours of Tuesday. 

But by 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, they were gone and 36 protesters were detained.

And by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, protesters and police had clashed again after replacing the American flag with a Palestinian one in the center of the Quad. By 6:45 p.m., the American flag was reinstated by police. 

In the early morning, law enforcement entered the encampment on Polk Place following the delivery of a letter from UNC interim Chancellor Lee Roberts and Provost Christopher Clemens. The letter was received around 5:30 a.m. and demanded that all protesters remove tents, tables and other items and leave the area by 6 a.m. 

The letter said if the demonstrators failed to disperse, consequences such as arrest, suspension and expulsion were possible. 

Six of the detained individuals were arrested, according to both UNC Students for Justice in Palestine and UNC Media Relations. Three of the arrested protesters are UNC students and the other three are not affiliated, Media Relations confirmed.

"I don't see no riot here. Why are you in riot gear?" demonstrators chanted at the law enforcement standing on Cameron Avenue outside Gerrard Hall, where the detained individuals were. 

The responding law enforcement presence included officers from UNC Police, N.C. State University's police, UNC Wilmington's police, Appalachian State University's police, and both state patrol officers and sheriff deputies in what looked like riot gear. The Chapel Hill Police Department was not involved with the situation, a spokesperson said. 

"The pro-Palestinian protesters attempted to block the UNC Police vehicles by standing in front of them and throwing items at officers," Media Relations said. "Polk Place was cleared in approximately 45 minutes. After the area was cleared, the remaining protesters escalated their tactics, attempting to forcibly enter South Building by pushing officers and refusing to comply with requests from Facilities and UNC Police."

The six individuals were transported to the magistrate's office in the Orange County Detention Center in Hillsborough later on Tuesday morning. The arrested individuals were later released, according to a 10 a.m. statement from UNC SJP and confirmation from the Orange County Detention Center.

Alicia Stemper, communications manager for the sheriff’s office, said the magistrate’s goal is to place individuals on the least restrictive set of pretrial release conditions that will ensure their appearance in court.

The protesters who were not arrested or transported to Hillsborough were released from Gerrard Hall to cheers from the crowd of other demonstrators. When the doors of Gerrard Hall opened, chants could be heard from the protesters detained inside.

UNC Facilities Services workers wearing neon vests and UNC Police officers broke down the encampment, placing metal barriers around the areas of grass where the encampment was located.

Later on Tuesday, the demonstrators hosted a silent vigil and protest for Palestine and for those arrested earlier that day. Beginning on the steps of Wilson Library and later moved to South Building, several hundred community members attended, marching across Polk Place.

In a campus-wide email sent out at 11:47 a.m. – during the vigil – Roberts and Clemens said they were disappointed that they “had to take action this morning regarding protesters, including many who are not members of the Carolina community, who violated state law and University policies that provide for peaceful demonstration.”

The two University leaders said the administration had been in communication with the protesters over the weekend, but said the constructive communication changed on Sunday when the tents came back up.

“We must consider the physical safety of all of our students, faculty and staff,” Clemens and Roberts said. “In addition, we are alarmed at the rising accounts of antisemitic speech, and we categorically denounce this and any other incidents of prejudice.”

Around 2 p.m., protesters took down the American flag flying from the flag pole to raise a Palestinian flag. More than a dozen other students stood on the steps of South Building holding Israeli and American flags in counter to the other demonstrators.

UNC Police and members of UNC administration, led by interim Chancellor Lee Roberts and UNC Police Chief Brian James, entered the Quad by the Campus Y around 2:30 p.m. They walked toward the protesters and then police circled the flag pole and Roberts, where they worked to again raise the American flag at Polk Place. 

Protesters encircled the police officers and Roberts, chanting and yelling. Some threw water on the interim chancellor and officers as they tried to rehang the flag; others attempted to push past police. Officers sprayed pepper spray several times at protesters as more than 1,000 students, faculty and community members watched from all parts of the Quad.

Protesters chanted “Lee Roberts, we know you. You arrest your students too,” and “The people united will never be defeated.”

Police officers were seen shoving students and pulling them out of the crowd surrounding the flagpole by their hair. One protester, who uses a wheelchair, was pushed over and trapped under the metal barricades. Counter-protesters also gathered around police, shouting "U.S.A!" 

Police and administration retreated from the flagpole once they had replaced the U.S. flag. The flag was later removed by a group of counter-protesters. The pole remained bare through the evening.

“This University doesn’t belong to a small group of protesters, it belongs to every citizen of North Carolina,” Roberts said on the steps of South Building after he exited the Quad.

 

In a statement posted on social media Tuesday afternoon, UNC Student Body President Jaleah Taylor called on University leaders to address "the genocide in Gaza and how it is affecting our campus community."

She said UNC should listen to all students and prioritize diversity, noting she will continue to advocate for the safety of the campus to Roberts. 

"The encampment was in violation of university policy, but make no mistake, this morning's actions are a result of the voices of Students for Justice in Palestine not being prioritized in our community," Jaleah said in the statement.

Soon after police left the Quad, the protesters also dispersed. Throughout the evening, law enforcement from across the state arrived on campus with supplies including riot gear. UNC SJP announced on Instagram that they would not return to Polk Place on Tuesday evening due to the heavy police presence. 

By 6:45 p.m., UNC Facilities workers raised the American flag with a barricade and a fence around the pole. 

Five days of protest

This escalation follows action from individuals within the encampment who reconstructed tents after taking them down on Friday at the request of the University because they violated policy.

According to UNC, the demonstrator's signs and items staked into the ground and tents violate Section II.D.2. of the Facilities Use Standard. The materials protesters taped to the flagpole at the center of the Quad violated Section IV.B.1. and the signs and banners that hung on campus trees violated Section II.D.7. of the same standard.

The pro-Palestinian encampment, made up of hundreds of individuals, remained active on Polk Place for four days before law enforcement and UNC administration took action to shut it down. Organized by UNC SJP, the encampment echoed similar protests that have recently erupted across the country in solidarity with Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and called for disclosure of investments related to Israel and divestment. 

More than 100 protesters at Columbia University were arrested by the New York Police Department on April 18. Solidarity encampments are also present on campuses from University of Texas at Austin to George Washington University and Yale University.

Since the detainments at Columbia, police have arrested hundreds of people nationwide, according to The Associated Press.

UNC SJP has been advocating for the University to respond to its list of demands since they were first published on Oct. 27. The encampment was the next step in the protesters’ calls for a meeting with Roberts. 

The organization’s demands include creating a divestment commission, commitment to transparency and University divestment from products that support Israel — including University-sponsored travel to Israel. 

Throughout the five days the protesters remained on the Quad, there was some counter-protest. 

Adam Goldstein, a physician and faculty member in the UNC School of Medicine, stood on the edge of the encampment in the mid-afternoon on Monday, holding a poster with an article from The Times of Israel featuring the names of Arbel Yehud, Dolev Yehud and Ariel Cunio, who were taken hostage by Hamas on Oct 7. 

"Jewish faculty, Jewish students, many of them are scared to be here, they're scared they're going to be accosted," Goldstein said. 

Goldstein said he came with a message he did not think was being displayed, calling it important and nonviolent.

At a previous solidarity encampment that took place on April 21, protesters lifted their tents and placed them on chairs after administration informed them that they were in violation of University policy. 

The encampment’s movement extended to include surrounding community members throughout the Triangle. Students from Duke University and N.C. State University also joined the encampment, coining the name “Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” 

While demonstrators spent much of their time cheering and marching in the encampment, UNC SJP organizers have also incorporated teach-ins, documentary screenings and community cookouts into the protest.

Many of the demonstrators passed the 92 hours the encampment remained on Polk Place dancing, reading and playing live music in between planned events.

@emmymrtin | university@dailytarheel.com

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