On Tuesday, April 30 at dawn, student protesters sleeping in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus were awoken by campus police who detained dozens of them and dismantled their tents in a jolting but not unexpected confrontation that crescendoed later in the day.

  • Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of South Building at UNC-Chapel Hill hours after police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill.
    Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of South Building at UNC-Chapel Hill hours after police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • Pro-Palestinians rally in front of South Building at UNC-Chapel Hill hours after police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill.
    Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of South Building Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • Pro-Palestinians rally in front of South Building at UNC-Chapel Hill hours after police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill.
    Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of South Building Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of South Building Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of South Building Credit: Angelica Edwards

On Tuesday afternoon, protesters bypassed barriers that police officers had set up around the encampment site and removed an American flag from a flagpole at Polk Place, replacing it with a Palestinian flag.

  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    Protesters replace the U.S. flag with the Palestinian flag at UNC-Chapel Hill hours after police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    A man interrupts a crowd of protesters at UNC-Chapel Hill as they attempt to replace the U.S. flag with a Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • A man interrupts a crowd of protesters at UNC-Chapel Hill as they attempt to replace the U.S. flag with a Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • A man interrupts a crowd of protesters at UNC-Chapel Hill as they attempt to replace the U.S. flag with a Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • A man interrupts a crowd of protesters at UNC-Chapel Hill as they attempt to replace the U.S. flag with a Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • A man interrupts a crowd of protesters at UNC-Chapel Hill as they attempt to replace the U.S. flag with a Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    Protesters link arms to protect a Palestinian flag mounted onto the flagpole at Polk Place Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    Protesters dance around a Palestinian flag mounted onto the flagpole at Polk Place Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Police head toward the flagpole to replace the Palestinian flag with a U.S. flag Credit: Angelica Edwards

The News & Observer reported that “a man approached and appeared to grab a person holding the Palestinian flag that was being attached. After fighting him off, at least 50 protesters encircled the flagpole as the Palestinian flag was slowly raised, chanting, ‘We are not afraid of you.’”

  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Police confront students as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protesters at Polk Place on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in Chapel Hill Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Police confront students as officers take down the Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Police confront students as officers take down the Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Police confront students as officers take down the Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Police confront students as officers take down the Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Police confront students as officers take down the Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards

UNC Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts arrived at the scene flanked by more than a dozen police officers and reattached the American flag as students threw water at Roberts and the officers and attempted to push past them. The officers sprayed pepper spray at protesters several times.

  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Interim chancellor Lee Roberts accompanies UNC Police as they work to replace a Palestinian flag with the U.S. flag at Polk Police hours after police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    A group of UNC-Chapel Hill students protects the newly reinstated U.S. flag after it was taken down and replaced with a Palestinian flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    A group of UNC-Chapel Hill students protect and escort a U.S. flag Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    UNC Facilities Services workers install a fence around the flagpole at Polk Place Credit: Angelica Edwards
  • UNC Police and students clash as officers take down the Palestinian flag mounted by protestors onto the quad area’s flagpole on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill. Hours earlier, police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment.
    Fences surround the flagpole at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Polk Place Credit: Angelica Edwards

The university canceled classes and suspended non-mandatory operations for the rest of the day.

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Lena Geller is a reporter for INDY, covering food, housing, and politics. She joined the staff in 2018 and previously ran a custom cake business.