(PatriotWise.com) — After days of refusing multiple requests from George Washington University officials to break up the pro-Palestine encampment on campus, the Washington DC Metropolitan Police finally cleared the encampment early Wednesday morning and made more than two dozen arrests.
The police finally took action only after Metro Police Chief Pamela Smith and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser were called to testify before the House Oversight Committee about their failure to respond to the violent protests at GW.
Once the police went in, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer announced in a statement that he was canceling the hearing.
Comer thanked Mayor Bowser for “finally clearing the trespassers” from the GW campus and suggested that it was pressure from Congress that prompted the city to act.
The pro-Palestine protesters took over University Yard two weeks ago, prompting GW President Ellen Granberg to declare the encampment “unauthorized.” However, the university’s repeated requests for police assistance were denied until early Wednesday morning.
Metro police said in a statement that they had attempted to find “non-arrest methods” that would “deescalate tensions” on campus while protecting the students. However, given the “gradual escalation” and “volatility” of the pro-Hamas protesters, the police “moved to disperse the demonstrators,” the statement said.
Police arrested more than 30 protesters for unlawful entry and assault on police officers.
Chief Smith said there were indications on Monday that the protests had become “less stable” and “more volatile.”
Over the weekend, the protesters held a “People’s Tribunal” where they sentenced university officials to death. The protesters chanted for Provost Alan Bracey’s head and called for hangings and “the guillotine” for university officials.
According to Chief Smith, “covert” counter-protesters and reports from campus police indicated that the protests included students from other schools and the presence of “items that could potentially be used for offensive and defensive weapons.”
While the encampment was being cleared, officers were forced to use pepper spray when a skirmish erupted at an intersection nearby.
According to Executive Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll, the Metro Police deployed pepper spray on three occasions when protesters attempted to interfere with the arrests.
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