Professor who studies hate groups attacked at Confederate statue protest, NC police say
Competing demonstrations over a Confederate monument in Alamance County ended after two supporters of the statue were arrested for assault and disorderly conduct, according to police and media reports.
Police said one of the men, 39-year-old Christopher Overman, hit Elon University professor Megan Squire, who was protesting a statue in Graham, about 55 miles northwest of Raleigh. Squire researches online right-wing extremism at the university, according to the school.
The incident brings new attention to Alamance County, which has emerged in North Carolina as a hotbed for the debate surrounding coronavirus-related restrictions. Ace Speedway opened to the public in defiance of Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order regarding large gatherings, leading to an ongoing legal dispute.
Protesters and counter-protesters gathered near a Confederate monument in Graham on Saturday, the same day a crowd toppled Civil War statues at the state Capitol grounds in Raleigh.
The monument outside the old Alamance County courthouse was dedicated in 1914, according to archives from UNC-Chapel Hill. It was sponsored by the Graham chapter of The United Daughters of the Confederacy, according to UNC.
Police say officers saw Chadwick Hightower, 48, “swinging his hand at an individual taking photographs” near the monument at about 8:45 p.m. Saturday.
As officers detained Hightower, they saw Overman hit Squire in the arm, according to police.
“He was immediately arrested,” police said in a news release.
In a tweet after the protest, Squire said she and her husband, Anthony Crider, an astronomy professor at Elon, were both attacked. “First Tony got smacked twice, then while that guy is being arrested another Confederate punched me,” she said.
In a statement to WFMY, Squire explained a video she shared on Twitter: “A man in a Batman shirt and a woman were berating a group of anti-racist activists who were talking to the Mayor of Graham, Jerry Peterman. The man and woman seemed agitated, and when they began walking towards my husband, I became worried so I started filming them. Good thing I did because they both lashed out at him. Then I got hit in the face by a different man while filming the arrest.”
Sharing photos from the protest, Crider said the pro-Confederate monument demonstrators outnumbered the group protesting the statue.
“There were 50-60 Confederates at any given time and many more were driving through town blaring their horns. The anti-racist crowd grew from 20 to 30 during the evening but, unlike at similar events in other NC cities, was very outnumbered,” he wrote on Twitter.
He said many of the demonstrators supporting the monument were carrying Confederate battle flags and guns.
The mayor of Graham issued a state of emergency and citywide curfew that started at 9 p.m. Saturday because of the competing protests and potential for “civil unrest.”
The groups of demonstrators left when the curfew began, according to police.
Police charged Hightower, of Burlington, with disorderly conduct and he was given a $300 bond.
Overman, of Gibsonville, was charged with assault on a female and jailed under a $500 bond, police said.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Professor who studies hate groups attacked at Confederate statue protest, NC police say."
