Police in Washington, D.C., rejected requests from campus officials at George Washington University to clear anti-Israel protesters from their campus encampment this week, fearing that doing so could be bad publicity.
Although police were poised to disband the encampment at around 3 a.m. on Friday morning, city officials in the police chief’s and mayor’s office told police to stand down and said that it would look bad publicly for police to disrupt a “small number of peaceful protesters,” the Washington Post reported on Friday. The same city officials know of no immediate plans to clear out the school’s University Yard, which is blocks from the White House, and where the encampment is located.
George Washington officials originally wanted to clear the encampment by 7 p.m. on Thursday. The school said on Friday that protesters “violated several university policies and were trespassing” and added 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.” Police who reportedly lined the encampment’s perimeter on Friday warned protesters that they would soon issue arrests, but they never did.
“After demonstrators refused multiple instructions to relocate, GWPD requested additional support from the DC Metropolitan Police to ensure the safety and security of all our community members through a measured and orderly approach,” George Washington said in a statement.
In return, Lindsey Appiah, the city’s deputy major for public safety and justice said on Saturday that police “continue to monitor and work with GW to make sure things remain safe on their campus,” but did not say if any arrests would take place.
Dozens of anti-Israel protesters are still occupying the encampment and no violent incidents have taken place at George Washington so far, unlike in encampments on other college campuses. At a rally held at George Washington this week, a speaker was recorded saying, “There’s only one solution, intifada revolution. We must have a revolution so we can have a socialist reconstruction of the United States of America.” What appeared to be hundreds of masked protesters gathered at the camp this weekend to chant “shame, shame, shame on you,” and demand that the university divest from Israel “now, or go to hell.”