Some UNC-Chapel Hill students set up an encampment midday Friday to protest the ongoing war in Gaza.
The event was organized by the UNC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine which called itself the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" and called on the university to "disclose and divest from the ongoing genocide in Gaza!"
🚨WE HAVE ESTABLISHED OUR “GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT”🚨
— UNC SJP (@UNC_SJP) April 26, 2024
LOCATION: POLK PLACE
UNC Gaza Solidarity Encampment wants YOU to join us! We want UNC to disclose and divest from the ongoing genocide in Gaza! pic.twitter.com/41kSObqWf6
The encampment follows similar camps that have sprung up at universities across the country following the model first used by students at Columbia University in New York.
Not long after the encampment started, students started to pack tents back up after university leadership said it violated campus policy.
"During a protest on campus today, April 26, a group erected tents, which they were asked to remove as they violate the University’s Facilities Use Standard," said Kevin Best, senior director of media relations at UNC-Chapel Hill, in a statement. "After conversations with administrators, the group peacefully removed the tents themselves. UNC-Chapel Hill supports the rights of all community members to demonstrate peacefully and within university policies."
Some Jewish students planned a service for Friday night in that same area to call for an end to the war.
