Students protesters camp out on GWU’s campus as Israel-Hamas war protests continue nationwide
Student protesters camped out on George Washington University’s campus Friday as demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war continued one day after both Georgetown University and GWU saw hundreds rally on their campuses.
Shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, The Hatchet, the GW student newspaper, reported much of the encampment had been abandoned by students. The university had said students faced disciplinary action.
Most protesters had moved onto the street and surrounding area earlier — taking their bags and tents with them — after university workers put up metal fencing around University Yard.
7 News’ Tom Roussey told WTOP around 5 p.m. that H Street between 20th and 21st had been shut down by police. “I’m seeing folks who are protesting on the street, on the public sidewalk, but then when I look to my left, I see about 15 to 20 tents and people camping” on the yard.
He reported that, while there had been fewer people demonstrating earlier in the day, the number has since grown.
“And of course, we’re headed for the weekend to Friday night. So I wouldn’t be surprised if it continued to grow,” Roussey said.
He said there is a large police presence around the campus, but there’s been very little interaction between police and demonstrators.
Roussey estimated there were a couple hundred protesters. And it has been peaceful.
The Hatchet put the number of demonstrators at more than 300 people around 8 p.m. and that the energy at the rally has increased.
WTOP’s Kyle Cooper was at the site earlier: “I talked to one student who said that some of the students that were inside that area decided to move out of that area instead of risk arrest — they said they had scholarships and things like that so they didn’t want to be arrested. But some students have stayed inside that metal fencing.”
GWU alerted students at 7:39 a.m. that there was restricted access to the yard and that Kogan Plaza, the main campus plaza, was also closed. The Hatchet, reported at 8:26 a.m. that only “protesters who are willing to risk arrest” remained in University Yard.
“There are some that are still inside that barrier, some are outside that barrier, they continue to chant,” Cooper observed Friday morning.
Chants had started up again earlier around 7 a.m. as a large presence of university and D.C. police enclosed the yard. An hour later, those chants started focusing on the police presence as well as the Israel-Hamas war.
“D.C. police is on the perimeter, we’ve seen as many as several dozen officers hanging around here, now just a handful again,” Cooper said. “So we’re not exactly sure if police are intending to move in and ask these students to move out, or move them out by force.”
George Washington officials said in a statement at 10 a.m. that “individuals who remain on University Yard and any who attempt to join them are trespassing on private property and violating university regulations.”
The university said it is working with D.C. police to secure the area and will “pursue disciplinary actions against the GW students involved in these unauthorized demonstrations that continue to disrupt university operations.”
The protests have disrupted the law school’s finals, which were set to be held in buildings next to the protest encampment and have been moved to another building due to the noise.
In another statement issued Thursday, officials said the institution does “not permit overnight encampments on university property,” and students must clear out by 7 p.m. The university requested police to get involved, but police did not intercede when protesters were still in place after the deadline had passed.
The university released a statement at 7:50 p.m. Thursday saying the encampment “is an unauthorized use of university space and violates several university policies. The university and D.C. police are continuing to work in coordination to determine how to best address the situation and ensure student compliance with those policies.”
The Hatchet reported Friday that the main campus plaza nearby, Kogan Plaza, was fenced off by police overnight, and sirens blared at around 2 a.m. as police warned they were about to start arresting students — but the arrests never came.
The student-run publication also said that the encampments started at 5 a.m. on Thursday with 50 tents being pitched in University Yard, only three blocks away from the White House.
The Associated Press reported the number of demonstrators grew significantly throughout the morning, 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.
The protesters are demanding that the university divest from all relations with Israel and lift a suspension against a prominent pro-Palestinian student group. The Washington Post also reported on a rally earlier this week at American University where students marched to the president’s office building to demand that the administration divest from Israel.
Nationally, administrators and police at university campuses from California to Connecticut are wrestling with how to address pro-Palestinian student protests that have led to scuffles with police and hundreds of arrests.
The protests were mostly inspired by the first encampments at Columbia University, which are still up on their tenth day as officials try to negotiate with students to dismantle the protest by the school’s Friday deadline.
WTOP’s Kyle Cooper, Will Vitka and The Associated Press contributed to this report.