Anti-Israel protesters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill vandalized the school's ROTC Naval Armory and other campus buildings as part of a Thursday "Walk Out for the West Bank" event, causing "significant damage," the school said in a statement.
The event, organized by the school's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and other anti-Israel groups, began at the steps of the university library. From there, anti-Israel student activists "began moving around the center of campus and disrupted operations of the University," according to the school.
"They entered at least nine academic buildings across campus shouting and attempting to disrupt classes. They also vandalized the interior and exterior of buildings along their way with spray paint and permanent markers," UNC said in a campus update. "They caused significant damage throughout multiple buildings. The group then gathered at the ROTC Naval Armory building, which is included in the National Register of Historic Places and proceeded to damage the exterior with spray paint."
Photos of the ordeal showed slogans such as "Israel Bombs, USA Pays," "Burn, Riot," "Death to the US," and "Death to UNC" spray painted on the ROTC building and other campus buildings. At one point, student protesters raised a Palestinian flag at the front of the ROTC building. Members of various UNC fraternities assembled to clean up the mess and re-raise the American flag.
Breaking: SJP at UNC has targeted the ROTC building removing the U.S. flag and putting up the Palestinian flag.
The building has also been completely defaced with graffiti.
Where are the police? pic.twitter.com/8dirTJ2c36
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) September 19, 2024
Video of fraternity men returning the American flag to its rightful place at UNC pic.twitter.com/Bh8mkJGFnu
— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) September 19, 2024
Outside the UNC ROTC Armory - videos for the @dailytarheel pic.twitter.com/u1PQc196zf
— Natalie Bradin (@nataliebradin) September 19, 2024
On campus today at #UNC. Interesting move to target the ROTC pic.twitter.com/RgvnwAaz0x
— Mitchell Meyer (@mitchmeyerr) September 19, 2024
Moving from hall to hall spray painting and disrupting class at UNC pic.twitter.com/DZb8sc1LeO
— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) September 19, 2024
The chaos comes months after a similar ordeal saw student radicals form an encampment and replace an American flag at the center of campus with a Palestinian flag. Fraternity brothers famously protected the flag during that ordeal as well, prompting praise from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
UNC chancellor Lee Roberts promised to "hold people accountable" for the vandalism.
"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," Roberts said. "We have a beautiful campus maintained by our hard-working facilities staff. We expect everyone who comes to this campus to show respect and care for this historic place and for the people trying to live, work and learn here."