On Saturday evening, the Chapel Hill Courthouse on East Franklin Street was defaced with anti-cop messages such as “Kill Cops” and “Jihad Now.”
The historic United States Post Office, which also houses an Orange County municipal courtroom, was vandalized during the march. Messages were painted on the pillars and doors of the post office. Town crews have been working to remove the paint on the pillars, but it is taking some time, as crews are taking care not to damage the building further.
“It could not be in a more prominent place in the heart of downtown Chapel Hill, as the students are coming back to campus and that being one of the first things they see,” Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman told the Carolina Journal. “There’s no limit to the layers of upset I have over this. This is just completely beyond the pale.”
A group demonstrated at the Peace and Justice Plaza at approximately 9 pm on Aug. 24. By approximately 9:45 pm, the group marched down Franklin Street, the most notable strip in Chapel Hill and where the post office is located to Graham Street; down East Rosemary Street; and back to the Peace and Justice Plaza.
“This is despicable,” Nieman said in a press release. “Calls for violence and murder have no place in this community, and we should all denounce it in the strongest possible terms. Law enforcement officers’ risk their lives every day to keep all of us safe, including the individuals at this rally and those who spray-painted these hateful messages. I only hope those responsible can be identified so they can be held accountable in court. I encourage anyone with information about the perpetrators to contact their local law enforcement agency.”
Triangle Stop Cop City hosted the rally, which was publicized on their Instagram page. After the group had departed the area to continue their march down Franklin Street, it became apparent that the courthouse had been defaced with “violent phrases.”
The caption of the posting for the rally read as follows:
“As we stare down the barrel of another election cycle in which politicians argue and posture about who will best maintain the domination of racial capitalism and this world of genocidal violence, we must find a way to break with the spectacle of electoralism,” the statement read. “We must find ways to act directly towards the world we desire. No vote will end the violence of police and prisons of borders and settler colonialism. There is no liberation to be found at the ballot box, but its beginnings may lie beneath the pavement if we’re bold enough to look.”
“When there are demonstrations, our priority is always to make sure that everyone can exercise their right to free speech safely,” Alex Carrasquillo, media relations manager for the Town of Chapel Hill, told the Carolina Journal in an email. “On Saturday night, the Chapel Hill Police Department blocked traffic when the group moved into the street to march. The vandalism on the historic building is unfortunate, and we’re in the process of removing it.”
Nieman told the Carolina Journal what he found particularly offensive about this incident.
“What was another layer of upset for me was the fact that Chapel Hill police came to this demonstration and did their job of protecting these folk’s ability to demonstrate and rally for their cause peacefully,” said Nieman. “And then when the rally-goers decided to march down Franklin Street, [the police] did their duty to block off Franklin Street to keep them safe while they conducted this demonstration. For people out that are apparently connected with that demonstration to take the moment when police are down the street — blocking off the street, keeping the rally goers safe — to spray ‘kill cops’ on the front of the courthouse; it’s just another layer of outrage. If they had said ‘F*ck the cops,’ that would have been offensive, but the fact that they took it to a whole other level and said, ‘kill cops’ is just another level of egregious offense.”
As of Thursday, Chapel Hill Police Department has not identified any suspects in this case. Classes for fall semester at North Carolina’s flagship university began earlier this week.
In stark contrast, later this week, an entirely different group of UNC students is to be honored at “FlagStock” in appreciation for their honorable protection of the US flag during anti-Israel agitations on campus last spring.