A day after charging 36 pro-Palestinian demonstrators, UNC won’t release arrest records
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NC responds to Israel-Hamas war
Since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, the ensuing war in Gaza has had an impact around the world. In the Triangle, protesters have taken to the streets, college campuses and government meetings to call for a cease-fire, aid to Gaza and the release of hostages. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.
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A day after charging three dozen protesters while breaking up a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, UNC-Chapel Hill still has not released arrest and citation information identifying those detained and charged Tuesday.
Arrest reports are public records under state law and are typically available within hours of someone being arrested. UNC News Media officials did not provide a reason for withholding the records, which could help in the reporting of the ongoing protests, in an email response Wednesday.
An unidentified staff member in the UNC Police Records Section also declined to provide the reports Tuesday. The UNC Police website says those reports are available for free to the public by phone or email, but the staff member said media requests must be directed to the UNC News Media office.
A UNC News Media staff member followed up with another email response Wednesday evening, saying, “UNC Police is processing the arrest/incident reports and will release those when they are complete.”
UNC Police cited 10 students and 20 people it said were unaffiliated with the university with trespassing on Tuesday. Another six protesters were arrested and charged by magistrates at the Orange County jail with trespassing.
At least one protester was also charged with assault on a government official and resist delay and obstruct, according to a UNC Police crime log. Two more crime log entries posted Wednesday showed charges for simple assault at 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday, at the time when the U.S. flag was removed and replaced with a Palestinian flag and then reinstalled.
The entries do not indicate whether someone was arrested.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office does not keep records of people who are charged by a magistrate and released without being booked into the jail, spokeswoman Alicia Stemper said.
Encampment removal ordered
The arrests came just hours after UNC’s interim chancellor and provost ordered the removal of the encampment from Polk Place. UNC policy prohibits temporary structures, including tents, from being erected on campus unless approved in advance.
The pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police throughout the day Tuesday, at one point after replacing the U.S. flag on the flagpole outside South Building with a Palestinian flag.
Protesters threw water on Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts and a group of police officers as they reinstalled the U.S. flag. Protesters tried to remove the flag again a short while later, but were stopped by counter-protesters who held the flag up so it did not touch the ground. The counter-protesters took the flag to a police staging area in Gerrard Hall.
The university canceled classes, on the last day of the semester, and also suspended all non-mandatory operations.
Campus officials worked with a facilities crew to rehang the flag Tuesday evening. The flag remained on its flagpole Wednesday as UNC workers continued cleaning up graffiti, signs and trash left behind from the protests.
Nearby, a small group of students posed for photos at the Old Well in their Carolina blue graduation robes.
This story was originally published May 1, 2024 at 1:55 PM.
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