WASHINGTON — On the seventh day of protesting at George Washington University, House Oversight Committee Republicans toured the encampment a day after calling for the city to remove it.
Students set up the encampment at University Yard on Thursday morning, calling it "Students All Out For Gaza." Tents were set up around 6 a.m., and protesters were seen on campus with signs, chanting, drumming, and flying Palestinian flags.
"It’s time that Mayor Bowser gets aggressive in keeping safety here on this campus and the surrounding perimeter," said Rep. Lauren Boebert, (R) Colorado.
Oversight Committee Chairman, James Comer, from Kentucky and Virginia Foxx from North Carolina voiced their concerns over the protest in a letter to the Mayor and DC Police Chief Tuesday.
“We have reached out to the mayor about this committee hearing," said Comer. "The mayor knows our position. We expect the law to be upheld and right now we have people breaking the law and a lot of them don’t look like students.”
“I thought it was interesting," said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. "The members have universities in their own districts. Especially the member in North Carolina and I was watching a lot of activity in North Carolina. It would seem that her energy would be best placed there.”
Now a house committee meeting is scheduled next week on the city’s refusal to clear out the encampment.
Protests here have remained peaceful.
“You should know that we proactively engage with Representative Comer, Chairman Comer, and his staff very regularly as we have in the last days, and we will continue to do that," said Bowser.
“We have trespassing here," said Comer. "The University president explicitly told us in a briefing, they do not want these encampments on their campus.”
The delay of any sort of clearing is getting the attention of some First Amendment advocates, contrasting the situation at George Washington University with the clashes seen on campuses in Texas and New York.
"Our job is to police our laws and to maintain safety in the District of Columbia and MPD, of course, is our judge of that," said Bowser.
The emergency hearing on this matter will be held next Wednesday. Mayor Bowser and Metro Police Chief Pamela Smith are expected to testify before Congress.
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