At least 200 students and staff took part in an anti-Israel demonstration led by the University of North Carolina Students for Justice for Palestine on Thursday, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student newspaper.
The Daily Tar Heel reported that the “Walk Out for the West Bank” saw protesters spray-painting messages such as “Liberate Gaza,” “Fuck the University of North Carolina” and “Israel is a terrorist state” as they made their way in and out of various buildings around campus.
“There were several speeches calling for the university to reject Israel and its atrocities against students. Protesters walked the halls chanting phrases like 'Disclose, Divest, we won't stop, we won't rest,'” the Daily Taheer reported.
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Anti-Israel protesters have been causing unrest on the University of North Carolina campus since last year, including the “Gaza Solidarity Camp” pictured, which was cleared by police in April. (Travis Long/News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The paper also reported that anti-Israel protesters vandalized the UNC NROTC Naval Armory building with spray paint and draped a Palestinian flag from a gun turret.
“An American flag flying outside the building was also taken down by protesters,” the student newspaper reported.
Police arrived and restored the American flag within the hour.
“Police were already on campus due to an emergency preparedness event taking place at the same time,” The Daily Tar Heel reported.
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“Several SJP members clashed with counter-demonstrators at the event,” the report added. “One SJP member said that counter-demonstrators took his cell phone and threw it in the street.”
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The University of North Carolina did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. A university spokesman told The Daily Tar Heel that they had “not seen or heard of anyone being detained.”
According to the report, UNC Students for Justice for Palestine has called on UNC to “boycott companies and programs that support Israel, including study abroad programs, and to demand disclosure and divestment from the university.”
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been plagued by campus unrest over the past year, most notably when anti-Israel protesters last spring tried to replace the American flag on a Chapel Hill building with a Palestinian flag, and members of the school's sorority clubs famously prevented the flag from touching the ground.
UNC students participate in Flagstock on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2024, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The concert was held in honor of the fraternity brothers who stopped an American flag on campus from being dropped to the ground during an anti-Israel protest in May. (Image direct from Fox News Digital)
A third-party GoFundMe page has raised more than $500,000 for the students who saved the flag. The flag was intended to be used in a “rager.” Country singer John Rich offered to hold a concert in their honor on Labor Day, which turned into a huge show featuring multiple artists and bands, including Big & Rich, Aaron Lewis, John Ondrasik, and Lee Greenwood.
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Fox News Digital's Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
