Social justice organizations on UNC’s campus have been pushing the university administration to disclose its investments and divest from Israeli-backing companies. In late April 2023, organizers established an encampment on the main quad, which police subsequently stormed four days later.
People gather to mourn the children killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.
organizers listens as an encampment member voices concerns during a safety meeting on April 27, 2024.
Encampment members pray during a Shabbat service organized by the encampment on the evening of April 27, 2024. Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest and celebration often ushered in with prayer, candlelighting and braided bread.
Protestors at the march through campus on April 28, 2024 wear clothing and accessories to celebrate the Palestinian cause.
Interum Chancellor Lee Roberts stands among officers in the quad on Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
Police remove a university professor from the scene after he yells “Nazi” at pro-Palestinian protestors.
Students reconvene around UNC’s flag pole
A group of students hold up the American flag in Polk Place on April 30, 2024.
A mattress lies on the edge of the encampment as protesters march through campus on April 29, 2024.
Police wrench protesters to the ground on the quad on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. That morning, police raided the encampment, detaining 30 people and arresting 6. At a rally later that day, protesters hoisted a Palestinian flag onto UNC’s flag pole, whereupon UNC Interum Chancellor Lee Roberts marched a squadron of officers into the quad to take it down. The police violently tore through the crowd of students to reach the flag and later deployed pepper spray.
Students link arms around the flag pole in Polk Place on April 30, 2024. Lilly said, “Something that is so rewarding are the relationships that I have made here. It’s almost like you bypass the first year of a friendship when you meet someone in an organizing space, because there is such a deep level of trust and respect, and admiration. The relationships that we’ve made here together are really beautiful.”
Lee Roberts returns to South Building after leading police into the quad, where they violently shoved through protesters, to replace the American flag on April 30, 2024.
