DC mayor, police chief will not face House committee hearing after GW encampment cleared

WASHINGTON (7News) — D.C. leaders will continue efforts to clean up a pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University on Wednesday after a House Oversight Committee canceled a hearing with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith.

House committee members sought answers for why police had yet to clear a protest calling for the University to divest from companies benefitting from Israeli interest in its occupation of the Gaza Strip.

The roughly 14-day-long encampment and protest on the school's University Yard ended early Wednesday morning after an order handed down from D.C. leaders, who said Wednesday that the mostly peaceful protest had become volatile in recent days.

According to Chief Pamela Smith on Wednesday, they cleared the campus after several factors, including reports of counter-demonstrators covertly in the protest, a simple assault reported to GW police, and items that could be used as weapons found in the property.

RELATED | DC police break up pro-Palestine encampment at GWU's campus; several arrests made

Officials said over 30 people were arrested after police gave six warnings to leave the encampment, though some of the protestors had already left the area following the warnings. Officials said other protestors arrived and interacted with police while they were clearing the encampment, some of whom were also arrested.

Three protestors were also pepper-sprayed, officials said.

Some arrested have since been released, but others will likely face a judge after being processed at the D.C. Police Academy on Wednesday.

Last week, GOP House Oversight Committee members, including Reps Lauren Boebert, James Comer, and Bryon Donalds visited GW after sending a letter to D.C. leaders calling the protestors "antisemitic".

Despite the GW protest being partially organized by Jewish students, other Jewish students, and pro-Israeli community members said the protest made them feel unsafe.

Following the conference, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R - Kentucky), issued the following statement:

“Following the Metropolitan Police Department finally clearing out the unlawful encampment on GW’s campus, I am very pleased to announce that the hearing with Mayor Bowser has been canceled. I had a good conversation with Mayor Bowser. I thanked her for finally clearing the trespassers off the GW Campus. It was unfortunate the situation at GW forced the Oversight Committee to act; however it was apparent that the DC police force was not going to do their job. Therefore, after meeting with GW leadership and touring the encampment, we decided to hold a public hearing to get answers as to why the Mayor would not uphold the law. I am pleased that the potential Oversight hearing led to swift action by Mayor Bowser and MPD Chief Smith. We will continue to hold D.C. officials accountable to ensure our nation’s capital is safe for all.”

The house committee's meeting beforehand had been criticized by D.C. pro-Palestinian coalitions, who called on the House to focus on halting military aid to the Israeli government and also criticized the pressure on local leaders.

“If members of the Oversight Committee are worried about the safety of students and DC residents, the most important thing they can do is immediately halt military aid to the government of Israel that is contributing to the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” said Dante O’Hara, a lead organizer of DC for Ceasefire Now Coalition said in a statement. “Congress is creating this crisis. Pressuring local elected officials and university leaders to increase police action deflects from Congress’s own responsibility for causing the protests like at GWU.”

The encampment of students from GW and nearby regional schools, and DMV-area activists, was removed after nearly two weeks of growing tensions and volatility between protestors and university officials. They were calling school officials to divest from companies that supported Israel's military occupation of the Gaza Strip that left over 34,000 Palestinians dead and thousands more starving.

MPD slowly increased its officer presence throughout the 14 days to provide additional security to the campus at the request of GW officials but refrained from clearing the encampment sooner as it had remained mostly peaceful, though there were several brief tense moments between protestors and police.