UNC protests disperse after intense Tuesday with 30 arrests
Protesters pulled down an American flag and raised a Palestinian flag at UNC Chapel Hill's Polk Place.
UNC-Chapel Hill officials erected a 6-foot fence around the flag pole at Polk Place after protesters pulled down the American flag that normally flies there and ran up a Palestine flag.
Officers are watching as UNC Facilities workers are creating a second barrier around the flagpole, using reinforced fences. Onlookers are continuing to argue in front of the area. pic.twitter.com/ZFqLX1igWt
— The Daily Tar Heel (@dailytarheel) April 30, 2024
That brought interim Chancellor Lee Roberts out of his office in the nearby South Building with a police escort. He walked to the flag pole and watched as a group of counter-protesters pulled down the Palestine flag and began to re-raise the American flag.
"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," Roberts said. "That flag will stand here as long as I'm chancellor."
The American flag again came down briefly before being raised later in the afternoon. Then officials erected the larger fence around the flag pole, which remained there into Tuesday evening.
Pro-Palestinian protesters who had formed an encampment Sunday afternoon said they would not return Tuesday night, citing fear of a large police presence on campus.
During the afternoon, police used pepper spray in an attempt to disperse crowds. Tuesday morning, police broke up an encampment, making 30 arrests, most of whom were not students.
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