Campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war arrived in D.C. with both Georgetown University and George Washington University seeing hundreds rally.
GWU had wanted protesters to clear out by 7 p.m. — and it requested police to get involved — but WTOP’s Scott Gelman reported that a D.C. police source told WTOP the department is now holding and not moving forward with clearing the encampment from campus just yet.
After the 7 p.m. deadline passed, the university released a statement saying the encampment “is an unauthorized use of university space and violates several university policies. The university and MPD are continuing to work in coordination to determine how to best address the situation and ensure student compliance with those policies.”
Protesters remained camped out on the campus Thursday night well after the sun had set, though in fewer numbers — about 100 around 10:30 p.m., according to 7News’ Carl Willis.
Willis noted that chants had stopped and the situation seemed to have quieted.
A statement earlier in the day from the office of university president Ellen Granberg stated that D.C. police assistance was requested to “relocate an unauthorized protest encampment on the University Yard.”
The school wanted demonstrators to head to Anniversary Park at F Street between 21st and 22nd streets.
The Associated Press reported that about 50 students set up a tent encampment in the morning. The number of demonstrators grew significantly, with demonstrators waving Palestinian flags, beating drums and chanting slogans.
Later, a group of Georgetown University students and professors staged their own walkout and marched to the George Washington campus to join in with the protesters there.
Students from other local colleges, including American University, George Mason and the University of Maryland also took part in the rally on GW’s campus.
Despite a robust police presence on the edges of the encampment, there were no serious incidents. According to reports on social media, one pro-Israel protester waving an Israeli flag attempted to march through the center of the protest but was led away by police.
The protesters are demanding that the university divest from all relations with Israel and lift a suspension against a prominent pro-Palestinian student group.
Dayna Bowen Matthew, dean of the law school, released a video message saying that law school finals, which were set to be held in a building next to the protest encampment, would be moved to another building due to the noise.
The university’s statement said that peaceful demonstrations were permitted, however people not associated with the university were not allowed to protest on campus.
The statement also said that overnight encampments were not allowed on university property and the protesters “will be required to remove tents and disperse” by 7 p.m.
Students rally over Gaza at Georgetown University
A group of students at Georgetown University led a protest billed as a “Walkout and Rally for Gaza” on Thursday morning.
The group gathered outside Georgetown’s Healy Hall as speakers with megaphones and microphones spoke to the crowd. Chants of “Free, free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea! Palestine will be free!” could be heard from blocks away.
Student Selina Al-Shihabi said she helped organize the protest with the organization Students for Justice for Palestine.
Al-Shihabi explained, “We really are having this protest as an end of the year way to show that we really do demand that this university divest, we demand a working group for Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students, and that we want our university to do more to support us as Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students.”
When asked about the issue of divestment, Al-Shihabi said students want Georgetown to divest from companies that have contracts with Israeli defense interests, a demand made by other student protesters at schools in the area, including American University.
A Jewish student who didn’t want her name used, stood by and watched the protest, which ended with the group leaving the campus and chanting. Some held banners baring the colors of the Palestinian flag.
When asked if she felt safe on campus, the student said she felt physically safe but, while gesturing toward the protesters, said she thought the demonstrations created an “unsafe environment” for Jewish students on campus.
WTOP has reached out to Georgetown University’s communications office for comment.
College campuses in other cities have called in police to break up demonstrations. More than 100 students were arrested Thursday at Boston’s Emerson College. Four officers were injured at an encampment.
Another camp was broken up Thursday morning by police at Emory University in Atlanta.
There were arrests Wednesday night at the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has also called for the National Guard to break up the huge encampment at Columbia University.
WTOP’s Scott Gelman, Kate Ryan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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