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May 8 (UPI) -- Police on Wednesday arrested 33 people and took down an encampment at George Washington University hours before Mayor Muriel Bowser and the police chief were set to give congressional testimony on the situation, officials said. The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement Wednesday morning that arrests were made for assault on a police officer and unlawful entry.
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"This started last Thursday, when a GW campus police officer was pushed by protesters and an item was grabbed out of the police officer's hand during the performance of her duties," D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said at a Wednesday morning press conference with Bowser.
According to Smith, multiple incidents of assaults had been reported by officers and ongoing intelligence reports of infiltration and what was happening inside the encampments, including reports of weapons allegedly being collected, is what led law enforcement to act.
"Hundreds" of police officers were allegedly on scene, according to the school's student newspaper.
In a Wednesday morning statement, the Metropolitan Police said they "supports individuals peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights."
"All of this led to my discussion and conclusion that we needed to change our posture," Smith said, adding she had briefed the mayor on Monday, and plans for Wednesday mornings action began the night before on Tuesday.
"Our plan included giving warnings, multiple warnings, clear direction to people inside the encampment to disperse the area, we allowed protesters ample time to leave the area," Smith said.
"In total, there were six dispersal announcements before our officers took action," she said about the police actions which began at about 3 a.m. EDT.
On Sunday, GWU President Ellen Granberg said "it is clear" how "this is no longer a GW student demonstration."
"It has been co-opted by individuals who are largely unaffiliated with our community and do not have our community's best interest in mind," she said in a statement.
Granberg said the situation had become "increasingly unsafe and a violation of university and city regulations to have so many unidentified and unvetted people from outside the GW community living on university property."
But GW's student government had called Granberg's letter "deeply misleading."
Canadian universities have gone so far as to warn protesters against erecting pro-Palestinian encampments on campuses.
The day before on Tuesday, about 50 University of Chicago Police officers early that morning removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment without making any arrests.
But Wednesday's action by local police came the same day that Bowser and Smith were set to be on Capitol Hill to speak to the situation at a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing lead by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.
Comer canceled the meeting and praised Metropolitan Police for clearing out "anti-Semitic and unlawful protesters" on school campus.
"I had a good conversation with Mayor Bowser," Comer said Wednesday. "I thanked her for finally clearing the trespassers off the GW Campus."
"I am pleased that the potential Oversight hearing led to swift action by Mayor Bowser and MPD Chief Smith," he said. "We will continue to hold D.C. officials accountable to ensure our nation's capital is safe for all."
