Another House committee was scheduled to question the D.C. mayor Wednesday over the city's response to the pro-Palestinian protest camp at George Washington University. However, the hearing was canceled as police moved in overnight to destroy the garrison.
Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said at a press conference Wednesday morning that while protests on campus began peacefully on April 26, there had recently been a rise in “unrest” that warranted dispersing the protests. There was an “intensification of the situation,” he said.
Asked about the timing of the operation just hours before a scheduled hearing, Smith said the decision to clear the camp was made Monday “based on public safety.”
Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke at a press conference with Representative James Comer, R-Kentucky, who had scheduled a hearing on the city's response to the encampments, and said she believed the hearing would be canceled. He said it became.
The mayor defended the city's actions, saying police “maintained a presence” at the university throughout the protests and that the city “demonstrated and upheld our values ​​and constitutional responsibilities.”
Chief Smith said the trouble that led to the permit began last Thursday, when a campus police officer “was shoved by a demonstrator and items were taken from the officer's hands.” He went on to say that on Monday, police learned of a “simple assault” that was reported to campus police, that counter-protesters were “covertly encamped,” and that protesters had entered campus buildings. He said he learned that the items had been stored. They were being assembled in camps that “could be used for offensive and defensive weapons.”
Smith said as police cleared the post, more protesters arrived from outside the area and “engaged officers,” prompting police to use pepper spray. He said 33 people were arrested, including 29 for trespassing on campus, adding that several were also arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. There were no serious injuries.
Police officials said the protesters were still on campus while the university removed tents and other items left behind by the protesters.