Police used pepper spray to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University and arrested dozens of protesters on Wednesday, just as city officials were set to appear before anti-Congress lawmakers to be held accountable for their handling of the two-week protest.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee canceled the hearing after the crackdown, and its chairman and other Republicans praised the police action. House Speaker Mike Johnson said, “It will not be mandatory to threaten to drag the mayor of Washington before Congress to ensure that he protects Jewish scholars at George Washington University. “
District of Columbia Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser said she and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith made the decision to empty the encampment because of symptoms that “the protest is becoming more volatile and less stable. “improvised weapons” and were “surrounding” university buildings with the conceivable goal of occupying them, police said.
But Moataz Salim, a Palestinian student at George Washington University who has relatives in Gaza, said the government has just “destroyed a beautiful network dedicated exclusively to love. “
“Less than 10 hours ago I was pepper-sprayed and assaulted by police,” he told a news conference organized by organizers. “And why? Because we have to pitch tents, organize networking activities and be informed of everyone. “other. We built something incredible. We built anything that would replace the game. “
Tensions rose with clashes with protesters opposed to the war between Israel and Hamas on college campuses in the United States and increasingly in Europe. Some schools cracked down promptly. Others tolerated the demonstrations. Some began to lose patience and called the police, fearing that life and safety on campus would be disrupted.
Police also intervened Tuesday night to break up an encampment at the University of Massachusetts. A video recorded in Amherst showed an hours-long operation in which dozens of equipped police systematically tore down tents and arrested protesters. The operation continued Wednesday morning. Police said another 130 people were arrested after protesters refused orders to disperse.
“I think it was an absolute overreaction,” said Lucas Ruud, editor of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. “It’s a completely unnecessary show of force. ” Employees of the university newspaper counted more than a hundred police cars on campus for the crackdown.
An activist wears keffiyehs tied in combination to raise a banner through an upstairs window of a Rhode Island School of Design building, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Providence, Rhode Island (AP Photo/Steven Senne).
In Washington, police said they arrested 33 other people at the George Washington protest, adding for assaulting a police officer and trespassing. They showed using pepper spray outside the encampment against protesters who tried to break through police lines and enter.
Two Democratic lawmakers gave the impression at a news conference with five of the arrested academics. “I need all Republicans and Democrats to know that they can’t get rid of this developing dissent,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. attempt to crack down on academics exercising their First Amendment rights. “
Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri said that “those who refuse to prevent genocide in Gaza can arrest and brutalize them to get away with it. “
The school said in a statement that while it is committed to relaxed discourse, “encampment has become an illegal activity, with participants in direct violation of various university policies and city regulations. “He later said general operations had resumed after the “orderly and safe operation” to disperse the protesters.
President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said the president believes the right to dissent is “fundamental to who we are, but it leads to disorder and violence, threats, vandalism, intrusion and/or campus closures. “and anti-Semitism is disgusting, and we’ve been very transparent about that. “
During the roughly two weeks that the camp lasted, the scene had been largely quiet.
The tightly organized demonstrators and the pro-Israel counter-demonstrators who stood along the borders interacted without serious conflict. Some of the most tense confrontations involved others objecting to the treatment of a statue of George Washington, wrapped in Palestinian headscarves and Palestinian flags with “University. “”Of genocidal warmongering” spray-painted on its base.
Since April 18, about 2,800 people have been arrested on 50 campuses, according to Associated Press reports and statements from universities and law enforcement authorities after the latest anti-war movement during a protest at Columbia University in New York City.
In U. S. schools:
Amherst, the school’s provost, Javier Reyes, said he ordered the raid after negotiations on a wide variety of demands failed to produce an agreement to dismantle the camp and engage in “constructive discussions. “
A week ago, George Washington’s encampment hosted a chaotic stopover by several Republican members of the House Oversight Committee who criticized the protests and condemned Bowser’s refusal at the time to send in police.
“We didn’t have violence to disrupt on the GW campus,” he said at the time.
But in the early hours of Wednesday, a slew of Metropolitan Police officers arrived at the scene, reported The GW Hatchet, the university’s student newspaper.
At least two police officers pepper-sprayed protesters, who then set up a makeshift medical zone at a market near campus, according to the newspaper. Organizers rushed to a store to buy water to rinse their eyes.
The now-abandoned surveillance hearing was another flashpoint in strained relations between congressional Republicans and officials in the predominantly Democratic district. Donald Trump has threatened a federal “takeover” of the city, to provoke crime, if he regains the White House. .
The district is already a federal enclave, but with some self-government and its own police service, over which the government can now exercise in certain emergency situations.
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The Associated Press in the U. S. and around the world has contributed, adding Charles Rex Arbogast, Pat Eaton-Robb, Steve LeBlanc, Jeff Amy, Christopher Weber, Mike Corder, Barbara Surk, Rick Callahan, Sarah Brumfield and Pietro de Cristofaro.
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