George Washington University pro-Palestinian camp cleared, 33 arrested

WASHINGTON — Police cleared a pro-Palestinian protest camp at George Washington University early Wednesday morning and arrested 33 people, weeks after police rejected an earlier request from the university to get involved.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department arrived on campus around 3 a.m., the department said in an email to USA TODAY.

A total of 33 people were arrested – one person in the University District was charged with assaulting a police officer, while 29 others were arrested and charged with trespassing around the block away, Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference Wednesday morning.

Police are working to determine how many university students were among those arrested, she said.

The police rejected an earlier request from the GWU to clear the camp

The raid came weeks after MPD reportedly rejected a request from university administration to disband the protest camp over fears it could lead to clashes with student protesters on the campus, which Washington said is less than a mile from the White House Post Office.

“On Monday, MPD learned of additional signs that the protest was becoming less stable and more volatile,” Smith said.

Smith said the department had information that counter-protesters were “secretly” present at the protest, another factor in the “change in attitude.” Police also believe protesters from other schools, including Columbia, traveled to the encampment and that the protesters were collecting items that “could potentially be used as weapons,” she said.

Videos posted on social media and shared with USA TODAY by the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights showed chaos erupting as police sprayed protesters with pepper spray amid screaming and coughing. Demonstrators chanted “Free, free Palestine” and anti-police messages.

Jeffery Carroll, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said police pepper-sprayed protesters three times at a police barricade after more protesters arrived after the tents were cleared.

Protesters will be banned from camping in the area in the future, Smith said.

Videos posted by Ianne SalvosaA reporter from GW Hatchet, the university’s student newspaper, showed tents and other items from the camp being thrown into a garbage truck.

Carroll said police are still in the process of removing the tents from the area and the department will continue to maintain a presence in the area.

In a statement sent to USA TODAY on Wednesday, the university called the police operation “orderly and safe” and said there were no reports of “serious injuries.”

The university said that all on-campus activities, “including free expression activities on campus,” require prior registration with the university and that no “audio amplification” may occur until the end of commencement on May 19. University Yard and Kogan Plaza, an outdoor area a block away, also remain closed.

House Oversight Committee cancels hearing with Washington mayor

The raid came hours before House Oversight Committee Republican Chairman James Comer announced the cancellation of a planned appearance by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and Smith before the committee, originally scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m., Comer said in a statement On Wednesday, he said he had a “good conversation” with Bowser and thanked her for telling police to clear the camp.

Comer previously said the purpose of the hearing was to address concerns about MPD’s refusal to remove the “radical, anti-Semitic and unlawful protesters” from the university’s campus. He announced the hearing during a visit to the camp last week with other members of the committee.

Bowser said at Wednesday’s press conference that she expects the hearing to be “cancelled.”

“Congressman Comer indicated that he thought our energy today should be focused on our ongoing operations, and I agreed,” she said.

Student protesters said the camp was set up on April 25 when about 20 tents were set up.

“We are here to demand that the university protect pro-Palestinian speech on campus, that it drop all charges against pro-Palestinian student organizers and organizations, that it immediately disclose all investments and foundations, that it disassociate itself from all funds associated with Israel, and that they are ending all academic partnerships for Israel,” Miriam Siegel, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student who took part in the protest, told USA TODAY late last month.

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