A group of students at the University of Mississippi belted out “The Star-Spangled Banner” during a protest this week, drowning out the voices of anti-Israel agitators on the Ole Miss campus.
In a video posted to X on Thursday, students could be heard singing the national anthem loudly, eclipsing the chants of nearby protesters, many of whom were carrying Palestinian flags.
Ole Miss students sing the Star Spangled Banner🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Kj1PCXB48w
— RedCupOleMiss (@RedCupOleMiss) May 2, 2024
Dozens of students were evacuated from the Ole Miss campus after some 60 people gathered to loudly protest the Israeli government. The pro-Palestinian protest ultimately devolved into a shouting match between anti-Israel protesters and counter-protestors, according to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger.
Counter-protesters began shouting, “Terrorists,” toward the anti-Israel protesters, who were chanting, “Free, free Palestine!” Police soon intervened, moving the crowd to a different space on campus.
When the protest dispersed, the university released a statement saying the demonstration ended peacefully.
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“As a public institution, the University of Mississippi is committed to supporting the rights of our students, faculty, and employees to express their views in a respectful manner and to assemble peacefully as enshrined in the First Amendment,” Ole Miss stated in a press release. “While today’s demonstration was passionate and several protesters and counter-protesters received warnings from law enforcement over their actions, there were no arrests, no injuries reported, and the demonstration ended peacefully.”
Jacob Batte, director of media relations for the University of Mississippi, could not confirm whether the pro-Palestinian protesters were students. He did, however, confirm the protest was not organized by any registered student groups.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R), for his part, responded to the anti-Israel protests that have cropped up on university campuses around the country.
Ahead of the protest at Ole Miss, the governor said he and law enforcement officials were “aware” of and “prepared” for the demonstration on the college campus.
“Campus police, city, county, and state assets are being deployed and coordinated,” he said. “We will offer a unified response with one mission: Peaceful protests are allowed and protected, no matter how outrageous those protesters’ views may seem to some of us. But unlawful behavior will not be tolerated. It will be dealt with accordingly. Law and order will be maintained!”
Some are concerned the anti-Israel protests cropping up at colleges around the U.S. are not grassroots demonstrations but are instead professionally organized by outside groups, CBN News reported.
Dr. Jay Greene, a senior research fellow and an educational policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, told CBN News there are “hints” the demonstrations have been put together by professionals.
“We only get little hints of it, and the hints are that the funders include the Soros Open Society Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund,” said Greene. “And there are also some links to foreign organizations as well. We’ve seen that people linked to foreign organizations have been involved in training and that there are shared talking points and documents as well. So it’s pretty clear that this is an externally funded and organized effort.”
He continued, “Among the common signs are that they’re determined to set up camps so that it’s more difficult to remove them, but they never have to leave them. That’s one sign. A second sign is that they’re setting up in the middle of public spaces within the university so that it is difficult for people to get to and from work to and from classes without having to go through these protests.”
“So, they’re effectively shutting down the normal operations of these universities,” he added. “And third, they’re on locations that are often where commencements will be held in a few weeks.”
In a similar demonstration at the University of Alabama, pro-Israel counter-protesters drowned out anti-Israel agitators in Tuscaloosa. The counter-protesters shouted, “USA! USA! USA!”
“USA” chants drown out Pro-Palestine chants at University of Alabama pic.twitter.com/HU9rxl0j6t
— gray williams (@graywilliamss) May 1, 2024
And on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a group of students in a fraternity fought back against anti-Israel protesters attempting to tear down the U.S. flag and replace it with a Palestinian flag. The students stepped in and held the American flag, ensuring it didn’t touch the ground.
While the fraternity members held the flag, protesters hurled insults, water, and objects at the students.
“My fraternity brother and others ran over to hold it up, in order for it not to touch the ground,” Pi Kappa Phi member Guillermo Estrada said. “People began throwing water bottles at us, rocks, sticks, calling us profane names. We stood for an hour defending the flag so many fight to protect.”
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