Tensions are rising at UNC Chapel Hill after dozens of protesters were arrested

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill descended into chaos on Tuesday, hours after dozens of students were arrested for refusing to leave a camp they set up over the weekend outside Wilson Library on campus .

By afternoon, several hundred students had broken through the barriers keeping them out of the camp, chanting “Free Palestine” and calling on the university to withdraw from investments supporting Israel.

The scene escalated when demonstrators replaced an American flag with a Palestinian one in the middle of campus and demonstrators reportedly threw water at police and school officials as they tried to reattach the U.S. flag to the pole.

“It is clear that the university has chosen their side,” said Shahad Mustafa, a 21-year-old senior who began to flee as officers approached the flagpole. “They choose to continue supporting Israel regardless of what their students say. They show us that they are willing to use violence and lie.”

School officials said 36 protesters were arrested after they were given until 6 a.m. Tuesday to leave the camp or face possible arrest, suspension or expulsion. Of these, 30 people, including ten university students, were reported for trespassing and released. Six other people, including three students, were charged with trespassing at the county jail.

At the other end of the courtyard on Tuesday afternoon, a handful of students held Israeli flags. Trevor Lan, a Jewish student who joined the group, told The News & Observer from Raleigh, N.C., that the camp and recent protests were the first time he felt “threatened” on campus.

“They took down the US flag,” Mr Lan told the news agency. “For those of you who didn’t care about Israel and the Jewish people, look at it now. This develops from there.”

The clashes at UNC Chapel Hill came as North Carolina was still mourning the deaths of four officers killed a day earlier while trying to serve warrants on a man in Charlotte, about two hours away, one of the The deadliest shootings for Americans have been law enforcement in recent years.

Four other officers were also injured. Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina had ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of the slain officers.

On Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson criticized the UNC Chapel Hill protesters and their actions as “nonsense” that “should never have happened in the first place.”

“Especially after what we saw in Charlotte last night, our police officers must be treated with respect and the lawlessness must end,” said Mr. Robinson, a Republican who is running for governor of North Carolina.

More than 1,000 protesters have been arrested on campuses across the country after a crackdown on demonstrators at Columbia University in New York this month sparked a wave of campus activism.

Anna Betts contributed to the reporting.