Protests erupt in North Carolina over Confederate statue

Hundreds gathered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday night to protest for the removal of a Confederate statue at the campus.

Demonstrators gathered around the bronze soldier known as “Silent Sam” calling for the Confederate statue to be torn down.

Video by local news outlet WRAL showed people chanting “No KKK! No Fascist USA!” and others yelling, “This is Silent Sam’s last semester! We will not be silenced by wealthy alumni and the police!”

Other video and photos on social media showed a heavy police presence and a number of clashing protesters being separated.

Silent Sam protests are underway in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.#SilentSam needs to come down and I support the 100s at UNC protesting. pic.twitter.com/AV3EJmVNSv

— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) August 22, 2017

A protester gets dragged off #SilentSam #silencesam #unc #ChapelHill pic.twitter.com/SpjPfTPw8w

— Pavel Nitchovski (@nitchovski) August 22, 2017

(Grainy Snapchat) video from the #SilentSam protest here in Chapel Hill pic.twitter.com/wmL44obonP

— Trevor Lenzmeier (@trevlenz) August 22, 2017

The protest comes a week after demonstrators toppled a Confederate monument in Durham, N.C.

Video posted to Twitter shows protestors surrounding the statue and chanting as several protestors appear to pull down the statue with a rope. {mosads}

Both protests were in response to the “Unite the Right” rally in Virginia earlier this month, where white supremacists, white nationalists and neo-Nazis gathered to protest the city of Charlottesville’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The rally quickly turned violent after a car was driven into a group of peaceful counterprotestors, killing one and injuring at least 19.

The events have sparked a renewed national debate over Confederate statues across the U.S.