Protesters then threw dirt on the statue before police moved in. #abc11 pic.twitter.com/BMkt0nvam9 — Josh Chapin (@JoshChapinABC11) August 21, 2018 
 
 Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Silent Sam statue on the University of North Carolina's campus Monday evening chanting for the removal of the monument and later blocking traffic in the Franklin Street area. "Those who called for the removal of Silent Sam said Monday night's protest was also in solidarity with Maya Little , the UNC graduate student who was facing expulsion from school and criminal charges for covering Silent Sam with paint and her own blood earlier this year.Many students used large signs and banners to cover the statue.Protesters then moved up Franklin Street and were blocking traffic. At 9 p.m., protesters had marched down Franklin Street before returning back to the statue's base. "The statue had stood on UNC's campus since June 2, 1913, Commencement Day at UNC and the day the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated what then was called by most simply the Confederate Memorial.Bettie Jackson, a member of UDC, told the crowd at the dedication, "This monument is erected in memory of those students of this university who served in the armies of the Confederate States of America.
– A statue dedicated to the memory of Confederate soldiers 105 years ago came crashing to the ground at the University of North Carolina on Monday night. "Silent Sam," a statue of a Confederate soldier donated to the university by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and erected in 1913, was brought down by some of the protesters who had marched against the statue earlier in the evening, WTVD reports. A group of protesters cheered and threw dirt on the statue after others brought it down using a rope. Police officers, who made at least one arrest, then moved in to form a human shield around the toppled statue. Students and faculty at the Chapel Hill campus had called the statue a monument to a racist past and called for its removal, the AP reports. Reactions ranged from joy to anger, with the university calling the protesters' actions "dangerous," the News and Observer reports. "The Governor understands that many people are frustrated by the pace of change and he shares their frustration, but violent destruction of public property has no place in our communities," Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement. (Another Confederate statue was toppled by a crowd in Durham last year.)