Campus Alert Archive
GW

Pepper Spray on H Street: How GW's Two-Week Standoff Ended at 3:30 AM Hours Before a House Hearing on the Encampment

DCcivil unrestadvisoryhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

At approximately 3:24 AM EDT on Wednesday May 8, 2024, Metropolitan Police Department officers surrounded the U-Yard encampment at George Washington University, delivered three dispersal warnings six minutes apart, and arrested 33 pro-Palestine protesters. MPD deployed pepper spray three times during a skirmish on H Street as demonstrators attempted to push past officers. The clearance came just hours before a scheduled House Oversight Committee hearing on the encampment that was subsequently cancelled.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
George Washington University
Private R1 · DC
~25,939 studentsGW Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from The GW Hatchet's minute-by-minute live coverage of May 8, 2024, which documents MPD's three verbal dispersal warnings at approximately 3:24, 3:26, and 3:30 AM EDT178 chars
GW Alert: MPD has issued a final dispersal order for the area of University Yard. Anyone remaining in U-Yard or H Street near the plaza will be subject to arrest. Avoid the area.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

GW Alert is the university's emergency notification system operated by the GW Police Department; SMS messages are routed through the Everbridge platform
MPD delivered three verbal warnings using megaphones from the U-Yard perimeter; this alert is reconstructed from contemporaneous reporting describing GW Alert messages echoing the MPD warnings
U-Yard is the central quadrangle of GW's Foggy Bottom campus, framed by Lisner Auditorium and the Marvin Center; H Street runs along its northern edge
UPDATEWebsite+4 h
Verified verbatimGW Media Relations: Update Regarding Police Activity on University Yard (May 8, 2024)904 chars
On May 8, the DC Metropolitan Police Department conducted an orderly and safe operation to disperse the demonstrators from the illegal encampment on GW's University Yard. The GW Police Department and MPD issued several warnings for the individuals to leave, and most heeded this direction. Those who remained were arrested. The charges included assault on a police officer and unlawful entry. There were no reports of serious injuries during this operation, and the university expressed gratitude for MPD's assistance. The university is open and operating normally, and final examinations are proceeding as scheduled. MPD, GW Police Department officers, and additional security personnel maintain a presence on University Yard and the surrounding area. GW staff have cleared the yard. Through the end of Commencement on May 19, University Yard and Kogan Plaza will remain closed, as previously announced.
Verbatim text from the official GW Media Relations post — the institutional record of the U-Yard clearance
The phrase 'illegal encampment' is the institutional framing GW used to justify the MPD intervention; the same framing was rejected by the protesters and Faculty Association
The post-clearance message was issued through GW Media Relations rather than as a continuing GW Alert emergency notification — consistent with universities' practice of treating planned arrest operations as PR events rather than ongoing emergencies
The phrase 'University Yard and Kogan Plaza will remain closed' through Commencement on May 19 was the institutional acknowledgement of the prolonged shutdown of central campus spaces
FOLLOW-UPEmail+7h 30m
Verified verbatimMessage Regarding Police Activity in University Yard (GW Office of the President, signed Ellen M. Granberg, May 8, 2024)515 chars
Harassing and degrading people based on their beliefs or background, assaulting police officers, illegally occupying and destroying university property, and displaying violent imagery and language are simply unacceptable. We want to thank the District, Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the DC Metropolitan Police Department for their support in regaining order and safety in GW's University Yard. We are also grateful for MPD's continued assistance and the tireless efforts of our GWPD, security, and maintenance personnel.
President Ellen Granberg published this message to the GW community on the morning of May 8, 2024, hours after the 3:30 AM EDT MPD clearance
The opening sentence enumerating four categories of misconduct ('harassing and degrading,' 'assaulting police officers,' 'illegally occupying and destroying,' 'displaying violent imagery and language') is the institutional record GW pointed to when defending the decision to seek MPD intervention
The thanks to Mayor Bowser was politically pointed — Bowser had earlier declined to authorize MPD intervention, prompting the House Oversight Committee hearing that was cancelled the same day after the clearance
Context

Background

The May 8, 2024 clearance of the U-Yard encampment at George Washington University is one of the most politically charged single police actions of the spring 2024 Gaza encampment wave because of the federal-political context surrounding it. The encampment had been established in U-Yard on April 25, 2024 — a deliberate choice of GW's central quadrangle, half a mile from the White House. The encampment grew through April and into May; pro-Palestine protesters at one point scaled the GW George Washington statue and dressed it in a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser initially declined to authorize MPD intervention despite GW administrators' requests. House Republicans summoned Bowser, MPD Chief Pamela Smith, and DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb to a House Oversight Committee hearing scheduled for 10 AM EDT on Wednesday May 8 to explain the perceived federal-jurisdiction inaction. In the pre-dawn hours of May 8 — hours before the hearing — MPD surrounded U-Yard at approximately 3:24 AM EDT, delivered three dispersal warnings six minutes apart, and began arrests at approximately 3:30 AM. MPD made 33 arrests: 29 for unlawful entry, four for assault on a police officer. Eleven arrestees identified themselves as GW students. MPD deployed pepper spray three times during a skirmish on H Street as demonstrators tried to push past officers. The hearing was cancelled by the time it was scheduled to begin. GW Police pushed at least one GW Alert during the operation; subsequent communications were routed through GW Media Relations rather than the emergency notification system. U-Yard was fenced off and patrolled by private security through summer 2024. The case is significant for this archive because the timing of the clearance — hours before a hearing on the encampment — is one of the clearest examples of campus-emergency response being shaped by federal political pressure rather than the underlying campus situation, and because GW's response again separated emergency-system messaging from media-relations-led incident communication.
Analysis

Key Findings

MPD cleared U-Yard at 3:30 AM EDT on May 8, 2024 — hours before a scheduled House Oversight Committee hearing on the encampment, which was subsequently cancelled
33 arrests with three deployments of pepper spray; 29 charged with unlawful entry and four with assault on a police officer
Only 11 of the 33 arrestees identified themselves as GW students — the rest were non-affiliates from the broader DC activist community
GW separated emergency notifications from incident communication: GW Alert pushes during the active clearance, GW Media Relations posts for the post-event narrative
U-Yard was fenced off and patrolled by private security through summer 2024 — one of the most visible institutional responses to encampment recurrence in the country
Outcome
33 arrests: 29 charged with unlawful entry, four with assault on a police officer. Eleven of the 33 identified themselves as GW students. MPD deployed pepper spray three times during a skirmish on H Street. The U-Yard area was fenced off and patrolled by private security through summer 2024. A subsequent encampment was attempted on F Street but dispersed by police warnings on May 9. The clearance preempted a House Oversight Committee hearing that had been scheduled for the same day to question DC officials over the perceived inaction.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    MPD clears U-Yard encampment, arrests 33 pro-Palestinian protesters (GW Hatchet)
    gwhatchet.com
  2. Official
    Update Regarding Police Activity on University Yard (GW Media Relations)
    mediarelations.gwu.edu
  3. News
    House hearing on George Washington University protest canceled after police clear out encampment (CNN)
    cnn.com
  4. News
    DC police clear out GWU pro-Palestinian encampment, 33 protesters arrested (WTOP)
    wtop.com
  5. News
    Police clear pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University (NBC News)
    nbcnews.com
  6. Student Paper
    Campus spaces remain fenced, guarded as officials evaluate campus safety (GW Hatchet)
    gwhatchet.com
Tags
civil-unrestgaza-encampmentu-yardgw-alertmpdpepper-spraygeorge-washington-universitydcprivate-r1house-oversightpre-dawn-clearance
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion