By ASHRAF KHALIL (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Police used pepper spray to disband a pro-Palestinian tent camp at George Washington University and detained protesters in the early hours of Wednesday. This happened after dozens marched to the school president's home while city officials were getting ready to testify before Congress about the handling of the protest.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith were called to testify Wednesday afternoon at the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, but the hearing was canceled after the arrests. The mayor said she spoke with Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House panel, on Wednesday morning and “he expressed his interest in making sure the city and the chief can focus on this ongoing operation” and pulled the hearing.
Following the crackdown, Bowser told reporters that she and the police decided to clear the camp due to changing information about increased threats to public safety. “Our response to demonstrations is always rooted in public safety and responsibility,” she said.
Smith said there were signs that “the protest was becoming more volatile and less stable.” Among them were indications that protesters had “gathered improvised weapons” and were “casing” university buildings with the possible intention of occupying them, said Jeffery Carroll, the police department’s executive assistant chief.
Tensions have escalated in confrontations with protesters of the Israel-Hamas conflict on campuses across the United States and increasingly in Europe. Some colleges acted immediately, while others tolerated the demonstrations. Some have started to lose patience and called in police due to concerns about disruptions to campus life and safety.
D.C. police stated that officers intervened to disperse protesters at George Washington because “there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest.” They confirmed 33 arrests, including for assaulting a police officer and unauthorized entry. They also admitted to using pepper spray against protesters who attempted to breach police lines and enter.
George Washington had warned of potential suspensions for continuing the camp on University Yard. Protesters carrying signs reading “Free Palestine” and “Hands off Rafah” also marched to school President Ellen Granberg’s home on Tuesday night.
The school mentioned in a statement: “While the university is committed to protecting students’ rights to free expression, the encampment had become an unlawful activity, with participants directly violating multiple university policies and city regulations.”
Since April 18, over 2,600 people have been arrested on 50 campuses, based on figures from AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies after this latest anti-war movement was launched by a protest at Columbia University in New York.
Police in riot gear cleared a pro-Palestinian tent camp at the University of Chicago on Tuesday after school leaders who had first accepted a permissive approach stated that the protesters had gone too far, causing more worries about safety. Hundreds of protesters had gathered for at least eight days until school leaders warned them on Friday to leave or be removed. Chicago police later took a barrier set up to keep protesters out of the main gathering area on the campus and moved it toward the demonstrators, some of whom chanted, “Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation!” Police and protesters pushed back and forth along the barrier as the officers moved to regain control.
“The university continues to be a place where differing voices have many ways to express themselves, but we cannot allow an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest,” University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos wrote.
Other schools are allowing protesters to hold rallies and set up their camps as they wish.
The president of Wesleyan University, a liberal arts school in Connecticut, has praised the on-campus demonstration, which includes a pro-Palestinian tent encampment, as an act of political expression. The camp there has grown from about 20 tents a week ago to more than 100.
“The protesters’ cause is important — bringing attention to the killing of innocent people,” university President Michael Roth wrote to the campus community Thursday. “And we continue to make space for them to do so, as long as that space is not disruptive to campus operations.”
The president of the Rhode Island School of Design, Crystal Williams, spent more than five hours with protesters discussing their demands after students started occupying a building on Monday.
On Tuesday the school announced it was relocating classes from the building, which was covered with posters reading “Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza Live.”
Some colleges have tried various methods from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to
Police said about 130 people were arrested there Tuesday night after protesters refused orders to disperse.
More information on the charges and the schedule for arraignments will be provided later. Early this morning, UMass Police said 109 people had been booked and charges were pending for approximately 25 other individuals.
UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes said he ordered the sweep after discussions over a wide range of demands failed to yield an agreement to dismantle the encampment and engage in “constructive discussions.”
A week ago, the George Washington encampment was host to a somewhat chaotic visit from several Republican members of the House oversight panel who criticized the protests and condemned Bowser’s refusal at that point to send in police.
Bowser confirmed on Monday that the city and police department rejected the university’s request to get involved. She stated, “We did not have any violence to interrupt on the GW campus” at that time.
But in the early hours of Wednesday, hundreds of Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived at the scene, according to The GW Hatchet, the university’s student newspaper.
According to the paper, at least two officers used pepper spray on protesters, who then created a makeshift medical area at a market near the campus. Organizers rushed to a convenience store to purchase water to wash their eyes.
Journalists from the Associated Press around the U.S. and the world contributed, including Charles Rex Arbogast, Pat Eaton-Robb, Steve LeBlanc, Jeff Amy, Christopher Weber, Mike Corder, Barbara Surk, Rick Callahan, Sarah Brumfield, and Pietro de Cristofaro.
___
The mayor and police chief of Washington, D.C., stated that they decided to remove a pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University based on changing information about increased safety threats. The police cleared the tent encampment on Wednesday after many protesters had already left the site and marched to the university president’s home. The Metropolitan Police Department reported 33 arrests, including for assault on a police officer. Mayor Muriel Bowser and police Chief Pamela Smith were getting ready to testify about the district’s handling of the protest at a House hearing on Wednesday afternoon, but it was canceled. Bowser says the district’s response to demonstrations is “rooted in public safety and responsibility.”
