Protesters took to McCorkle Place on the UNC campus Tuesday evening calling for the removal of Confederate monument known as Silent Sam.

A crowd slowly grew near the monument leading up to the scheduled seven o’clock protest of Silent Sam, and then a large, chanting group of protesters joined the crowd at the culmination of the first day of classes of the fall semester at UNC.

Silent Sam protesters. Photo via Blake Hodge.

The crowd swelled into the night growing to approximately 1,000 protesters at its peak. There were a handful of Silent Sam supporters who made their way out to the monument as well.

Silent Sam has been a focus of anti-Confederate monument protests in recent years and that has only intensified after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month where a counter protester was killed.

Some of the protesters’ chanting echoed what has been at other protests at UNC and across the country. The protesters also targeted UNC administrators – mainly Chancellor Carol Folt – in some of their chants.

Amidst the calls for Silent Sam’s removal and growing concerns of protests leading to possibly violent scenes, Folt has maintained that the university would remove the statue, if she felt it had the legal standing to do so. A law passed by the Republican-led legislature in 2015 prevents moving monuments. But Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger wrote to Folt last week asking her to begin the process of appealing to move the monument under a provision that calls for protecting the monuments from harm. Governor Roy Cooper also wrote to university officials that UNC could remove the statue if it were presenting a public safety concern. But university officials responded on Tuesday evening saying they still did not feel the university had the unilateral authority to make that decision.

Mark Dorosin, the managing attorney at the UNC Center for Civil Rights, was at the protest and said he disagreed with that interpretation.

“I think they have the authority to take it down,” Dorosin said. “And I think it’s an opportunity for the university to show real leadership. I think there are problems with the statute as adopted, and I think that the governor’s letter and support shows that the university, I think, had the authority to take this down, if they chose to exercise it.

“And it’s disappointing that they didn’t do that.”

Silent Sam surrounded by two layers of barriers before protest. Photo via Blake Hodge.

President of the Chapel Hill – Carrboro NAACP Anna Richards was also at the protest and theorized that Folt was being deliberate with her decisions because of a fear of potential retaliation by the North Carolina General Assembly.

“I think she’s afraid of our racist legislature,” Richards said. “The legislature has proven – through its actions, through the statutes, through gerrymandering, through closing the Civil Rights Center here on campus – that they are white supremacists.

“And I think [Folt] feared for her job. And to me, that’s the only explanation.”

House Speaker Tim Moore issued a statement Tuesday supporting UNC’s stance on allowing the monument to remain in place – at least for the time being.

There were some tense moments during the protest. One protester was detained for wearing a mask at the rally – which was against rules displayed on boards set up on the walkways leading up to Silent Sam. As the police van began to take that individual away, protesters temporarily blocked the van’s path.

Overall, UNC officials confirmed two individuals who are not associated with the university were arrested at Tuesday night’s rally. Chapel Hill Police said Wednesday morning that a UNC student was arrested at the protest and taken into their custody.