The pro-Palestinian protesters aka Students for Justice in Palestine are back. Today at UNC they held a walkout which was followed by a march to disrupt classes and significant vandalism of various buildings on campus.

The 'Walk out for the West Bank' began at 12:40 p.m., and protesters began walking in and out of various UNC buildings starting at 12:52 p.m.

Demonstrators hung papers outlining their demands throughout buildings, spray painting messages like "Free Gaza," "Fuck UNC" and "Israel is a terror state" on the walls of Carroll Hall and other buildings as they walked.

They also walked outside of the UNC NROTC Naval Armory, vandalizing the outside of the building with spray paint and draping a Palestinian flag from the gun turret. The American flag that waves outside of the building was also taken down by protesters around 1:48 p.m.

Here's video of the Palestinian flag which was put up to replace the US flag.

A short while later it was frat guys on campus who put the American flag back up:

Here's a clip of the ROTC building being vandalized:

More vandalism

Ongoing campus vandalism at UNC. pic.twitter.com/MPErWwOUuD

— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) September 19, 2024

But as mentioned above, the vandals didn't limit themselves to the outsides of buildings. They also marched through buildings, tagging walls with anti-American slogans as they went.

More protesters at UNC take over buildings. pic.twitter.com/p1uiqPvzXr

— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) September 19, 2024

Moving from hall to hall spray painting and disrupting class at UNC pic.twitter.com/DZb8sc1LeO

— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) September 19, 2024

"From the river to the sea..."

Protests are moving building to building at UNC. pic.twitter.com/zWLrfimQmN

— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) September 19, 2024

UNC SJP has vandalized class halls on campus pic.twitter.com/ZrDkqi1LLm

— Old Row Tar Heels (@OldRowTarHeels) September 19, 2024

This afternoon, UNC released a statement saying the vandalism caused "significant damage" in multiple buildings. The full extent is still being determined. The statement vowed to make an effort to hold someone responsible:

After a short event with a few speakers, the group began moving around the center of campus and disrupted operations of the University. They entered at least nine academic buildings across campus shouting and attempting to disrupt classes. They also vandalized the interior and exterior of buildings along their way with spray paint and permanent markers. They caused significant damage throughout multiple buildings.  

The group then gathered at the ROTC Naval Armory building, which is included in the National Register of Historic Places and proceeded to damage the exterior with spray paint. 

The full extent of the damage and impact is still being determined. 

Police are investigating and those who damaged University property or violated state law or University policy may face criminal prosecution and/or referral for discipline through other applicable University disciplinary processes. 

“Free expression and peaceful protest are, of course, in line with Carolina’s best traditions. We cannot tolerate, however, vandalism of public property or disruption of classes. We’ll pursue every avenue possible to hold people accountable.” said Chancellor Lee H. Roberts.

As for the dirtbags, er, protesters, they claimed the extensive vandalism was not planned:

"Discussions are currently taking place to debrief the unexpected autonomous actions that took place today." the SJP member said...

Sure, whatever you say. Hopefully police can identify and arrest the vandals. Even putting that aside, the school should discipline the group and its organizers for intentionally disrupting classes. If we learned anything about these extremists last spring it was this: They will escalate unless you give them a reason not to.