Protesters removed barriers around a pro-Palestinian encampment at the George Washington University in D.C. overnight as officials try to push out demonstrators accused of disturbing life on campus, the university said in a mass email.
More than 200 people, including "professional organizers, activists, and university students," have joined the demonstration, the university said Monday, as protests continue on college campuses across the country.
Video shared on social media shows a rush of demonstrators breaking through the bike rack-style barricades set up near the encampment. A drum is beating, there is chanting, and some protesters kick or jump on barriers. Police attempt to push back or hold on as the barriers are moved. Someone can be heard saying, "Whoa, whoa, hey."
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“Yesterday, the crowd rallied, and we, the crowd was like, we need real liberation, and we dismantled the barriers. They were gone,” sophomore Selina Al-Shihabi said. “And just the feeling, you know, the energy of finally feeling free. I mean, it's a fraction of what the people of Gaza are going through.”
One person was escorted away by campus police, but they were not arrested, according to the university. The barriers were placed as a way to limit access to University Park instead of resorting to forcible relocation, the university said.
By Monday morning, the barricades were in a jumbled pile at the center of the encampment.
"This is an egregious violation of community trust and goes far beyond the boundaries of free expression and the right to protest," the university's update said in part.
Dozens of students set up tents on Thursday in University Yard — which is bordered by GW's law school and other GW buildings — to call on the university to divest itself from financial ties with Israel, according to student newspaper The GW Hatchet.
Five days later, on the final day of classes for the spring semester, the number of people participating in the encampment swelled, and a second encampment had cropped up on H Street, on D.C. property, according to the university.
Over the weekend, the university reduced the space in University Park to allow for 20 people to remain and "to minimize further disruption to university activities." They were allowing demonstrators to access food and water and shared how to find medical assistance, GW President Ellen M. Granberg said in a Sunday message to the campus.
"GW continues to offer Anniversary Park as an alternate demonstration site and implores demonstrators to vacate University Yard immediately," Granberg wrote in part.
When access was limited to University Park Friday evening, protesters set up a new encampment of about 20 tents on H Street.
Al-Shihabi thinks students standing in solidarity with Gaza is making a difference.
“I definitely think it's helping raise awareness. I mean, we've been getting messages from the people of Gaza -- voice notes, photos -- just telling us how much we appreciate them, which is so ironic because we draw so much of our inspiration from them,” Al-Shihabi said.
'Liberation Camp'
Students celebrated the first 24 hours of the "Liberation Camp" protest on Friday.
Protesters say that their solidarity is with the Palestinian people, not with Hamas. While any protest movement has extreme elements that diverge from the core cause, most of the protesters at GW say they want to keep the focus on why they're in the encampment -- killings and what they're calling a genocide in Gaza.
"We've been very clear with our demands and we've been very clear that we are here in solidarity with Gaza," said one young woman protesting on Thursday, who did not want to be identified. "We are here in solidarity with Palestine."
GW said it decided to request D.C. police assistance after multiple instructions from university police officers to relocate to another site on campus went unheeded.
The university also issued a statement saying protesters are trespassing and "any student who remains in University Yard may be placed on temporary suspension and administratively barred from campus."
Several students told News4 Friday they were prepared to get arrested in order to stand up for what they believe in, and others said if they are removed, that would only embolden them in their protests.
"Missing class, it's nothing compared to what the people in Gaza are going through right now," said the anonymous protester. "It's not about us, it's not about our so-called sacrifice."
Counterprotester Eric Hirshfield said he tried to enter the encampment "just to see what’s going on and make sure they’re not disenfranchising the rights of others."
Leaders of the Jewish Student Association said they feel uncomfortable walking by the pro-Palestinian protests.
“A lot of people have family in Israel, and when there are slogans used that call for the destruction of where people live, it’s very intimidating,” Co-President Alana Mondschein said.
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“The campus climate, the protests, are just unproductive,” Co-President Jacob Wise said. “There’s no effort to speak to other students who might disagree.”
Last fall they had to help replace posters of Israeli hostages at the Hillel building after someone tore them down. GW said it suspended the student involved.
This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for updates.
