Congressmen Demand DC Police Remove Anti-Israel College Protesters

WASHINGTON — Republican members of Congress sent letters to Washington, D.C.’s mayor Tuesday demanding an explanation of why local police have not cleared what the lawmakers called an “unlawful and antisemitic protest encampment” from the campus of George Washington University.

Their dispute with the city administration is another example of a bigger issue on how much control Congress can exert over the District of Columbia.

If local police fail to get rid of the protesters’ encampment, then Congress might use “legislative powers to do so,” the letter says.

Congress derives its authority from Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which established the District of Columbia as the seat of the federal government. It also granted Congress discretion to reverse decisions of local elected officials.

The letter to the city’s mayor and police chief came from House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Education Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.

They were responding to media reports saying local police rejected requests from university officials to get rid of an encampment on the lawn next to the law school.

Police officials explained they did not want to interfere with the protesters’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech. They said they also want to avoid the images of violence found on other campuses only five blocks from the White House.

The protesters are demanding the university divest its interests in Israel after allegations its military is committing human rights violations in Gaza during its war with Hamas. The death toll among Gaza residents is approaching 35,000, nearly 70% of them non-combatant women and children, according to the latest United Nations report.

Congress’ options for overriding the D.C. government include hearings, enacting legislation and withholding some part of its annual appropriation.

Joining the threats against city officials was Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who sent a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser saying, “Your actions are a good reminder of why Washington, D.C., must never become a state.”

Cotton added, “I’m writing to inform you: What looks bad publicly is D.C. allowing a band of antisemitic, mask-wearing fanatics who call for an ‘intifada revolution’ to turn a university into a pro-Hamas encampment.”

Bowser so far has deferred to decisions of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.

The mayor’s office issued a statement this week saying, “We support peaceful protests, and I rely on the Metropolitan Police Department and their experience and expertise to decide what types of interventions are necessary.”

So far, the conflicts at George Washington University have consisted mostly of protesters removing barricades around their encampment of more than 30 tents. About a hundred people have been maintaining a vigil on the campus.

University officials have suspended seven of the student protest leaders.

Bowser implied a harsher police response if the protest turns violent, similar to the fighting found this week at Columbia University in New York and at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Her statement said that “we will not tolerate violence of any kind; we will monitor and ensure access to streets, parks, and safe and sanitary conditions; and we will continue to be supportive of universities or other private entities who need help.”

The protests in Washington are in their second week. When the protest started last week, as many as 500 students and their supporters joined it, some chanting, “Free, free Palestine” and “Zionism will fall.”

The organizers are pledging not to give in to intimidation from the university.

“Students in the encampment are at risk for becoming houseless, losing all class credits from the semester and being arrested,” organizers wrote on social media. “We will not falter nor give in to their threats which come from their weak position.”

Rough police tactics at other universities prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to warn college administrators nationwide in an open letter.

“First, university administrators must not single out particular viewpoints — however offensive they may be to some members of the community — for censorship, discipline or disproportionate punishment,” the ACLU said.

While universities can constitutionally “enforce reasonable time, place or manner restrictions on protest activity,” they also must abide by First Amendment rights “for students to speak to and to be heard by other members of the community,” the ACLU said.

A hearing titled “Oversight of D.C.’s Response to Unlawful Activity and Antisemitism” is scheduled for next week by the Oversight Committee.

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