Counterprotesters make their message clear as anti-Silent Sam activists maintain presence.

By the time a handful of counterprotesters left the area near Silent Sam on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus Saturday, even the protesters calling for the removal of the Confederate memorial there seemed bored with them.

They sent the last three counterprotesters away with a sad rendition of the go-home song “Hey, Hey-ye Goodbye.”

The two groups stared each other down for about three hours after a spirited initial verbal skirmish. But UNC police stepped in and quickly defused the situation. They were more like parents sending disruptive children to their rooms.

The counterprotesters, numbering five or six at the beginning, were overwhelmingly outnumbered by the group of people who initially marched on Tuesday and have maintained a sit-in around the statue in protest since then. It was an odd juxtaposition with the protesters calling for the removal of Silent Sam to be encircling the monument and the Confederate flag-wearing statue supporters being held at bay.

It generally was a cordial standoff but an occasional vulgar chant aimed at the counterprotesters did echoe into McCorkle Place from cars passing by on Franklin Street.

The counterprotesters, who said they were from Franklinton and Spring Hope, asked not to be identified by name. They said they just wanted to come to the Silent Sam memorial and exercise their right to protest.

“We don’t want any trouble,” one counterprotester said.

The counterprotesters carried Confederate flags, a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and signs calling for UNC to honor its Confederate war dead and to not desecrate memorials. Another said “Heritage, Not Hate.”

Numerous people passed through the quad and largely ignored the counterprotesters, who finally packed it in shortly after 4 p.m. They were escorted off campus by university police.

Word of the counterprotest forming spread on social media and with a telephone call to The Herald-Sun shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday.

One of the protesters, who identified herself as UNC student Tahjamar Warren, called The Herald-Sun to say her group was being harassed by the counterprotesters.

“Some harassing people are circling the (Silent Sam) statue ... taunting us and making vague threats,” Warren said.

Warren said of her fellow sit-in protesters: “We are not armed.”

She said the sit-in protesters consisted of UNC students and sympathetic members of the community who want the Silent Sam statue to be removed and relocated.

On Twitter, the UNC Black Congress posted the following message accompanying a photo of four counterprotesters on Franklin Street headed toward the Silent Sam statue: “Spotted on franklin st. CALLING ON BODIES TO COME SUPPORT AND PROTECT IN NUMBERS (WHITE COMRADES) #SilentSSamsitin.”

At about noon Saturday, the UNC-CH NAACP tweeted: “If you are person of color, please stay safe and away from the Silent Sam protest to avoid harassment from the alt-right groups.”

This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Counterprotesters make their message clear as anti-Silent Sam activists maintain presence.."