Anti-police graffiti left on Franklin Street building ahead of protest court hearings

Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at UNC-Chapel Hill this spring returned to court for a Monday hearing in Hillsborough.

Supporters and defendants filled five rows in Orange County District Court. The hearing was largely uneventful until a conservative political journalist used a courtroom break to take photos of the protest defendants.

The group gathered at the back of the courtroom to block the woman’s efforts, and she moved to another seat, posting the photos she obtained to X.

“I’m Jewish,” said Sloan Rachmuth, president of the Education First Alliance, when asked why she was taking photos of people in the courtroom. “I want to make sure I’m safe. I want to make sure these guys get justice.”

Nineteen of 39 people arrested in April and May protests will go to trial Oct. 31 and Nov. 14, defense attorney Gina Balamucki said after Monday’s court appearance. Another 18 defendants have not decided yet whether to accept plea bargains, she said.

If a District Court judge finds any of them guilty, they can then appeal to Superior Court for a jury trial, Balamucki said. It’s pretty rare to see someone convicted of second-degree trespassing without having committed another crime, she said.

“Prosecutors all over the country have dismissed these trespassing charges against university pro-Palestinian protesters,” Balamucki said, including the University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University, Indiana State University and Columbia University.

“In addition, all the defendants are university students, they are community members, and the vast majority have no criminal history at all,” Balamucki said. “Most of the students have already faced university sanctions, including suspension, and as a defense team, we have asked District Attorney (Jeff) Nieman is it worth spending taxpayer dollars going after these young people ... who were simply exercising their constitutional right to protest.”

Graffiti found after protest

Student protesters returned to campus last week for the fall semester, prompting two demonstrations on campus and in downtown Chapel Hill, where graffiti was left Saturday night on the East Franklin Street courthouse.

The graffiti called for “Death to Cops” and to “Burn the Prisons,” town officials said.

Saturday rally was organized by the group Triangle Stop Cop City at Peace & Justice Plaza outside the courthouse to show solidarity with victims of police violence, global colonialism and genocide, and the prison industrial complex, according to the group’s social media.

“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. We must find ways to act directly towards the world we desire,” the group said in an Instagram post.

The event followed a “disorientation” rally as students returned to campus Thursday organized by Students for Justice for Palestine. The rally was held in front of UNC’s South Building, which houses campus administrative offices.

On Monday, Orange-Chatham District Attorney Nieman encouraged anyone with information about the vandalism to contact police so the perpetrators can be prosecuted.

“This is despicable,” Nieman said in a news 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.”

Protesters in court, offered plea deals

District Attorney Jeff Nieman has offered plea deals ranging from deferred prosecution to a conditional discharge to the 39 protesters charged this spring with pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Chapel Hill. Balamucki said the prosecution has offered to dismiss the charges if the defendants complete roughly 24 to 36 hours of community service and pay any fines.

In April, 36 protesters were charged with trespassing after refusing police orders to end a four-day “Gaza solidarity encampment” on Polk Place, outside South Building. Six were taken to jail to face additional charges, including resist, delay and obstruct and assault on a law enforcement officer.

On May 8, three more protesters were arrested at a demonstration ahead of UNC’s commencement ceremony on charges that included assault on a government official, impeding traffic, disorderly conduct and resisting a public officer.

Red paint and graffiti were splattered on South Building during the May 11 commencement protests, prompting UNC police to obtain a search warrant for private account information of the UNC Students for Justice for Palestine Instagram account.

The organizers of a July 30 rally outside the Chapel Hill Courthouse said they want to leverage their power as a group to support each other through the court proceedings.

Several local residents turned out to support the defendants in court Monday, including Kady, a Lebanese immigrant who declined to share her last name.

She lived in Lebanon during the country’s civil war, emigrating to the United States in 1986, Kady said. The war in Gaza and the young people demonstrating for Palestinians to have the freedom to live free of violence and oppression is very personal for her, especially since she still has family in the region, she said.

“I want to support anybody who stands for justice and peace, and for the poor and vulnerable,” Kady said. “I love the fact of such young people who stand for this kind of cause.”

Graffiti painted on courthouse during march

The protesters have used the court hearings to bring attention to the war in Gaza, which has killed over 40,000 Palestinians since Hamas and other militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 more, the Associated Press reported.

Israeli evacuations have displaced at least 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million inhabitants, the Associated Press reported.

The pro-Palestinian protesters are asking UNC to meet a number of demands, including that to disclose and divest from investments in companies that support Israel and end study abroad programs to Israel.

Last week’s protests were the first held since spring over the war in Gaza and were largely peaceful.

On Saturday, the protesters stayed at Peace & Justice Plaza for about 45 minutes before marching down East Franklin Street to Graham Street, near the Carrboro town limits, said town spokesman Alex Carrasquillo.

The return route took marchers along Rosemary Street, with a Chapel Hill police escort stopping traffic along the way, he said. The graffiti was spray painted on the building, which also houses a U.S. Post Office, during the march.

“When there are demonstrations, our priority is to make sure that if it does move into the street that traffic is stopped so that people can do it safely,” Carrasquillo said. “We followed the plan that we normally follow, and it’s unfortunate that that happened.”

Public works staff had to stop its efforts to remove the paint to avoid damaging the building, so it could remain a while, and will probably have to be outsourced to private company, he said.

The town does not have video surveillance cameras around the courthouse, and no charges are expected at this time, he said.

Staff writer Korie Dean contributed to this report.