Pro-Palestinian protesters, police and counterprotesters clashed at the University of North Carolina after Pro-Palestinian protesters raised a Palestinian flag up the flag pole on Polk Place, in the middle of campus.
Hundreds of protesters broke down metal barriers around Polk Place before raising the Palestinian flag at the Chapel Hill school.
Then, interim Chancellor Lee Roberts led police and a team of law enforcement officers toward the flag pole. Encircled by pro-Palestinian protesters and counterprotesters, the police replaced the Palestinian flag with an American flag as Jewish students sang the pledge of allegience.
After, pro-Israeli counterprotesters held up the American flag, which was resting near the ground, holding up their own American and Israeli flags. The counterprotesters surrounded themselves with the metal barriers, causing tension as the two sides played tug of war with the gates.
Pro-Palestinian protesters surrounded them, with police watching from a distance.
In what became a tense situation, UNC's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine asked everyone to disperse in order to deescalate the situation.
Other than some thrown water bottles and pushing from police, there has been no violence.
As of now, there are still people on the quad, and counterprotesters are still on the steps of the South Building, the university's main administration building, but the situation has significantly deescalated, with police seeming to have left the area.
As of about 4 p.m. Tuesday, there was no crowd around the flag pole, and there's no flag currently on it.
UNC issued an Alert Carolina at 3:16 p.m., canceling all classes and non-mandatory operations for the rest of the day.
All of this comes after police on UNC's campus detained multiple protesters Tuesday morning during demonstrations outside the Polk Place buildings.
The university said roughly 30 people were detained shortly after 6 a.m. when they clashed with campus police after refusing to leave the area. A spokesperson with UNC said several of those detained “are not students or affiliated with the university."
After relocating from the quad, the university said some protesters began pushing officers while attempting to forcibly enter the South Building. No injuries or additional arrests, however, were reported.
Authorities on campus have placed metal barricades around the quad, which have since been removed.
This is a developing story, check back later for more updates.