Enduring insults, middle fingers and flying water bottles, about a dozen fraternity brothers stood their ground around the American flag at the University of North Carolina on Tuesday.
“These people wanted to tear down the flag, and we were there to protect it,” Pi Kappa Phi member Brendan Rosenblum told NewsNation’s “On Balance.” “Me and my friends did not allow that to happen.”
The standoff began when pro-Palestinian protestors raised the Palestinian flag on the pole. UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts, accompanied by police officers, took it down and re-hung the U.S. flag, which was flying at half-staff in honor of the law enforcement officers killed Monday in Charlotte.
When Roberts left and protesters tried again to take down the American flag, Rosenblum, some of his fraternity brothers and other students stepped in. They surrounded the flagpole, and kept the big flag from touching the ground. Rosenblum also held an Israeli flag.
“All of us felt that America, and the American flag — and for me, the Israeli flag — represent what we believe in,” he said.” And we weren’t going to let anyone stop us from keeping those two things up.”
By Tuesday evening, crews erected a chain-link fence around the flag pole.
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Author: Paul Bedard
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