Pro-Palestinian student protests on and in front of George Washington University’s University Yard entered their third day on Saturday with no sign of slowing down.
The Hatchet, the GW University student newspaper, reported that about 200 demonstrators were outside the yard around 8 p.m.
While many protesters have abandoned the encampment on the yard, WTOP’s Linh Bui saw 15 tents in the new H Street encampment and over 50 protesters waking up on the street Saturday morning.
Most protesters, mix of students and nonstudents, had moved onto the street and surrounding area Friday afternoon — taking their bags and tents with them — after university workers put up metal fencing around University Yard. The student news source reported that there were far less demonstrators in the original encampment as of Saturday morning.
“We’re here to remind people of what’s going on in Gaza, to say that we’re here in solidarity with Gaza and to remind of the fact that there’s still a genocide going on,” Moataz Salim, a GW University graduate student, told WTOP.
As for the encampment itself, GW University had wanted it cleared by 7 p.m. Thursday, and requested D.C. police assistance, but according to reporting Friday by The Washington Post, officials rejected the request.
Police had gathered at the site around 3 a.m. Friday morning and were ready to go in, according to the Post, but were told to stand down.
In a statement to WTOP, D.C. police said the department “has stood in support of the George Washington University Police department as they lead the response to first amendment demonstrations occurring on George Washington University grounds.”
D.C. police said it will continue to monitor the activity both on-and-off the university’s property and that so far, “This activity has remained peaceful.”
Student protesters suspended
The university announced that multiple students will face disciplinary action.
In a statement Friday night, the university said demonstrators “violated several university policies and were trespassing” and several students have been temporarily suspended for participating in the protest.
“The university also said that any student who remains in University Yard may be placed on temporary suspension and administratively barred from campus. Several students have already been notified of their suspensions.”
In an Instagram post, the Student Coalition for Palestine said that seven students “currently face 9 charges of misconduct and are being evicted from their homes.”
“Administrators are actively working to punish students for speaking up against the oppression of Palestinians,” they wrote in the post.
Salim told WTOP seven of the students in the encampment on Friday received suspensions from the university. “And that’s exactly the kind of thing we don’t want, because they’re just here peacefully protesting in solidarity with Gaza, and they’re being punished in a really despicable manner, honestly, by the university.”
A statement from a GW University spokesperson on Saturday said “The university does not comment on individual student conduct cases or ongoing conduct cases, including whether or not such a case exists.”
Salim said the university, the George Washington University Police department and the D.C. police have been “intimidating” them.
‘We’re staying until the demands are met’
Salim told WTOP that protesters have “a list of demands.”
He said they want GW University to be open about “any sort of donor money that they receive, endowments, to disclose all their investments, to have full transparency. And then building on that, to divest from any investments they have in any sort of Israeli tech companies or Israeli weapons manufacturing or weapons technologies companies.”
Salim said protesters also want the university to “end any academic partnerships they have with Israeli institutions.”
He said protesters are also calling on the university “to do a lot more to protect their Black and brown students, especially those who are aligned with our movement and who are pro-Palestinian, like myself.”
“We’re staying until the demands are met. Otherwise they’re gonna have to drag us out of here,” Salim said.
The demands were also listed in an Instagram post by organizers.
Nationwide protests
The nation’s capital is not alone in protesting the war in the Middle East.
Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of college campuses across the country, following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University in New York.
Those demonstrations stretch from the University of Southern California — which canceled its main stage graduation ceremony set for May 10 after its campus was roiled by protests — to Northwestern University in Illinois and the University of Florida.
WTOP’s Linh Bui, Emily Venezky and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
