About 150 students and staff members participated in pro-Palestinian protests at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) on Thursday.
The demonstration, called “Walk out for the West Bank,” was led by UNC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), reports the Daily Tarheel.
Some of the protesters spray-painted messages like “Free Gaza,” “F@!& UNC,” “Israel bombs USA pays,” and “Israel is a terror state” on the walls of the ROTC Armory building, Carroll Hall, and other campus buildings. They also draped a Palestinian flag from a gun turret outside of the ROTC building and took down the American flag.
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Authorities are searching for a person they say assaulted someone during the protest, reports WRAL.
Additionally, videos shared on social media showed the demonstrators going from building to building on campus, being loud and causing disruptions. One student said her Jewish studies class was interrupted by the protestors.
Counter protestors were also at the demonstration, with some getting into physical altercations with some of the pro-Palestinian protestors.
Pro-Palestinian Protest Participants Want UNC to Divest from Israel
SJP said the goal of the protests is to make UNC “divest from the apartheid regime and genocidal campaign being inflicted against the Palestinians by the Zionist regime.” However, the university claims that “It’s unknown if UNC’s $5.2 billion endowment invests in any companies associated with Israel.”
Thursday’s pro-Palestinian protest is a continuation of the protests that sprang up on U.S. college campuses this spring.
In a statement, Chancellor Lee Roberts responded to Thursday’s protest, saying, “Free expression and peaceful protest are, of course, in line with Carolina’s best traditions. We cannot tolerate, however, vandalism of public property or disruption of classes. We’ll pursue every avenue possible to hold people accountable.”
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Last week’s protest happened as Israel launched attacks on Lebanon by detonating pagers and walkie talkies allegedly used by members of Hezbollah.
