Students and residents protest local private security firm operating in Gaza

A crowd gathered on the Davidson Village Green on Aug. 25 protesting an international issue with roots close to home: the rollout of aid in Gaza. Entitled “Bread not Bullets,” the protest’s location was intended to directly address UG Solutions, a North Carolina based firm providing security to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites.

The GHF is backed by Israeli and U.S governments and was set up to distribute aid in Gaza. Its four sites are guarded by private U.S. security contractors including UG Solutions. The UN has criticized the GHF, calling it a “disturbing example” of humanitarian relief and alleging “Israeli forces and foreign military contractors continue to open indiscriminate fire on people seeking aid.” 

UG Solutions has also come under scrutiny for alleged excessive force at these aid sites. PBS News reported earlier this month that UG contractors were using live ammunition, stun grenades, and pepper spray on crowds of unarmed Palestinians per the eye witness account of former UG Solutions contractor Anthony Aguilar. Samira Haddad helped organize the event, and she is part of the organization Palestinian Youth Movement. She spoke about trying to raise awareness of the connection between North Carolina and Gaza.  

“It’s people from North Carolina […] it’s UG solutions that’s paying these individuals to go to Gaza [who are] supposed to be enforcing the security on site,” Haddad said. “We want individuals to be aware that this is contributing to the genocide that’s happening in Gaza.” 

As of Aug. 1 2025, 1,400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food per the UN, 859 of which deaths were near GHF sites. UG Solutions maintained in a statement to “PBS News Hour” that “No Gazan civilians have been shot by UG Solutions personnel, period.” 

UG Solutions was founded in the town of Davidson. The private security firm’s current registered address is the Davidson Post office. As reported by The Davidsonian on Aug. 4 2025, when the company was founded in 2023, the address registered with the Secretary of State’s Office was 201 Delburg Street, the same address as the Hurt Hub. However, company and College officials made clear that UG Solutions was not a member of the Hurt Hub, a college owned co-working space. “The Hurt Hub never provided a membership to UG Solutions,” Mark Johnson, Davidson College’s chief communications and marketing officer, previously told The Davidsonian.

UG Solutions currently operates out of an office in Mooresville, according to company officials. Its proximity to the College motivated many residents and students, like Eli Basset ‘28, to attend the protest. 

“I learned that UG solutions was based in Davidson, and that really kind of brought it home,” Basset said. “I was already involved with SAI [Students Against Imperialism], but [protesting was] something I could do that was in town and close by and very ongoing. This can be a first step […] because it’s local.” 

Lennox Goslin ‘28 saw the protest as an opportunity to engage directly with local matters. 

“It’s very easy to kind of fall into that trap of kind of living in the campus as a bubble […] because it seems very removed, even from Charlotte, which is only 30 minutes away.” Goslin said. “I feel it’s important to find ways to get involved locally, so you can remember and remind yourself what’s happening outside this campus.”

“Its very surreal to think that an organization like that can be here so close to where I live, and it definitely makes me want to be more vocal to make sure that the place that I do live in is not [complicit] with what’s going on in Palestine right now,” Tyler Crawford, a Cornelius resident, said. 

Chris Layman ‘28 was previously unaware of UG Solutions’ origins in the town of Davidson.

“I didn’t know about UG solutions, but I heard that it was a pro-Palestinian protest, and I have strong feelings towards that, in support of freeing Palestine,” Layman said. “So I was there, educating myself and hopefully educating others about UG Solutions.”

The protest brought together a myriad of groups from across North Carolina and beyond. Event organizers hailed from seven groups: Palestinian Youth Movement, Davidson Alumni For Palestine, North Carolina Peace Action, Code Pink North Carolina, JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace) Charlotte, Veterans for Peace, and Charlotte United for Palestine. 

Emily Gaeta is an organizer from Code Pink North Carolina.“There’s Palestinians, there’s Christians, there’s Muslims, there’s atheists, there’s everybody here,” Gaeta said. “People have driven from even South Carolina. [People] come here and drive by, people honking, you know what I mean? It’s really cool.”

The wide range of attendees expressed diverse opinions at the protest. Positioned alongside both Concord and Main Street in downtown Davidson, cars honked in support while others gave thumbs down or shouted in disdain towards the gathering.

Dr. Azeem Elahi, a pulmonary and critical care physician based in Gastonia, gave a speech on what he witnessed during his time serving on a humanitarian medical mission to Gaza. He was interrupted at the beginning of his speech by two counterprotestors who shouted “Free Palestine from Hamas.”  

Other speeches included lists of demands for UG Solutions and Town of Davidson as well as pleas for divestment and peace.

“We demand UG Solutions end its operations in Gaza, the US government withdraw all mercenaries and end military support to Israel,” Haddad said in her speech. “The town of Davidson, boycott UG solutions and all companies complicit in war crimes. Congress to restore funding to UNRWA [The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees] and pass the Block the Bombs Act.”