Number of protesters arrested at Silent Sam since Aug. 20 rises to 17

Update 10:05 p.m.: 

Names have been released for the three individuals from Thursday's protest: 

Cammi Lee Morgan, Shannon Maclaughlin and Mary Rosen, were all charged with "resist, delay or obstruct."

Morgan and Rosen have a trial date set for Sept. 13. Maclaughlin's trial date is set for Nov. 13. 

Many in the Chapel Hill community feared Thursday night’s Silent Sam demonstration would turn to violence following Chancellor Carol Folt’s statement urging students to stay away from McCorkle Place. While the demonstration began peacefully, the night finished with three arrests, making a total of 17 Silent Sam-related arrests in less than two weeks, said UNC Media Relations Manager Audrey Smith in a statement. 

Two arrests were for affray and the third arrest was for resisting an officer, UNC Media Relations Manager Carly Miller said in the statement. 

Police from across the state took a more hands-on approach than the past two rallies. They used barricades and personnel to separate the conflicting demonstrators. According to UNC Police, pepper fogger was used twice to “assist law enforcement in maintaining order” for what the University said was a crowd of approximately 200 people. 

“I’m very angry with Carol Folt for not taking care of this the past few years. She could have. It’s just stupid,” said Kathleen Dalton, a UNC alumna and Chapel Hill resident. “It didn’t need to come down with civil disobedience, but since she wasn’t going to take it down, this was the only way it was going to get done. I think that she bears a lot of blame for this.”

Demonstrators advocating for Silent Sam’s permanent removal opened the night with a dance party. They projected music through a pair of megaphones and passed out glow sticks to attendants. One demonstrator, claiming to be a UNC student named Trey Fletcher, passed out ice cream from a cooler that read “anti-fascist ice cream.”

He said the event was a celebration of students doing “what the administration were too cowardly to do.”

“The idea is that, I love people and I love fascism,” the man said. “And ice cream loves people and hates fascism. So we brought out some anti-fascist ice cream for everybody to enjoy on this hot night.”

Another group of demonstrators came to campus to hold a “twilight service” at the base of the Confederate monument. The demonstrators, led by neo-Confederate group Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County N.C., arrived at Morehead Planetarium parking lot around 8 p.m. to heavy police presence awaiting them.

Police escorted the ACTBAC group through the first barricade as counter-protesters swarmed them from all around.

Counter-protesters chanted “cops and klan go hand-in-hand” as police escorted the ACTBAC group.   With police inside the barriers separating the groups, counter-protesters chanted “pigs in a pen."

Two rows of barricades separated the groups. ACTBAC and its affiliates held signs that read, “Save our monuments. Preserve our history.” They unveiled a large Confederate flag and held it above their heads. 

The two groups demonstrated in their separate areas for around 40 minutes.The ACTBAC group began to leave at around 9 p.m. with another police escort. The crowd surrounded the escort with greater intensity. 

At the entrance of Morehead parking lot, where the ACTBAC group walked back to their cars, police told the crowd to back away. As the crowd continued to move forward, police deployed a pepper fogger. The crowd dispersed, and multiple individuals were seen coughing and searching for water.

Demonstrators followed police back to McCorkle Place, where arrests were made and pepper fogger was deployed a second time, Miller said in a statement.

The ACTBAC NC Facebook page made a post at around 10 p.m., saying it was proud the group “spoke for Sam, our lord, our monuments all across the Southland and to all the amazing Southern people. Stand up, get involved and be proud.”

Orange County activist and resident Heather Redding has attended all three demonstrations in the past two weeks.

“The pedestal itself is still a symbol of white supremacy, and until that is removed or the University petitions the Historical Commission to relocate Silent Sam, this is going to happen more and more.”

@CharlieMcGeeUNC

@MyahWard

university@dailytarheel.com