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A student was arrested along with other protesters when about 800 people gathered at McCorkle Place on Tuesday night to demand the removal of the Silent Sam Confederate statue from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
The statue was surrounded by two sets of barricades earlier Tuesday morning in an effort to prevent protesters getting close to it. The barriers, combined with the fact that the statue is continually monitored by surveillance cameras, prompted many to state that Silent Sam is better protected than any student on the campus.
At times Tuesday night, police had difficulty controlling the crowds as protesters chanted and marched for several hours, at times taking to Franklin Street and forcing the closure of the road, as officers dressed in riot gear guarded the monument.
"It doesn't need to be in the middle of campus. In a museum is fine, it's ok, but here in the middle of campus, it promotes violence," said protester Zaria Williams.