Protesters take down American flag on UNC-CH campus, replace with Palestinian flag

Classes have been canceled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after pro-Palestinian protests escalated on campus. That’s according to a message sent to students and staff at the university, calling for not only classes but for all non-mandatory operations to be halted til midnight.

Protesters with the UNC-Chapel Hill chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine took down the American flag from a large flagpole in Polk Place and replaced it with a Palestinian Flag.

Counter-protesters tried to re-raise American flag while some students chanted, "USA, USA" and then sang the National Anthem. Later, they carried the flag away from Polk Place.

Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts addressed media from the steps of nearby university building and said that as long as he was chancellor, the United States flag would remain in place.

"That flag represents all of us. To take down that flag, and put up another flag no matter what other flag it is, that's antithetical to who we are, what this university stands for, and what we have done for 229 years," he said. "That flag will stand here as long as I'm chancellor."

Peyton Sickles

/

For WUNC

He added that the university would protect students.

"Tell the students that we are going to keep them safe from a very small minority of students who want to disrupt their experience," he said. "This university is for everybody."

Earlier Tuesday, more than two dozen protesters were arrested beginning at 6 a.m. The group has called for the university to divest itself and the university endowment from any investments that benefit Israel.

Protesters set up an encampment over the weekend, following similar encampment protests at universities around the nation. University officials told the protesters, which include students from neighboring universities as well, they were in violation of university policy.

The protesters took down the encampment at first, but then set back up on Sunday. University officials again told them they were in violation of campus policy and faced possible arrests.

 

 

 

At about 5:30 a.m., university administrators circulated a statement from Interim Chancellor Roberts and Provost Clemens which told protesters to remove all tents and disperse by 6 a.m. or face arrests. The statement also threatened students with expulsion "which may prevent students from graduating."

The statement goes on to say that "we respect and support the rights of peaceful protesters" and that in recent days, student demonstrators had been abiding by university policies.

"That changed Sunday evening when protesters – including outside activists – backtracked on their commitment to comply with these policies, including trespassing into classroom buildings overnight. This group has now made it clear they will no longer even consider our requests to abide by University policies and have ended our attempts at constructive dialogue."

UNC-Chapel Hill

Arrestees were taken to Gerrard Hal for processing. By Tuesday late morning, UNC-SJP announced on Instagram that all arrested students and community members had been released. By noon, the encampment had been cleaned up and Polk Place was encircled in a fence.

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