May 8 (UPI) — Police on Wednesday arrested 33 individuals and took down an encampment at George Washington University hours before Mayor Muriel Bowser and the police chief were set to give congressional testimony on the situation, officials said.
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement Wednesday morning that arrests were made for assault on a police officer and unlawful entry.
“This started last Thursday, when a GW campus police officer was pushed by protesters and an item was grabbed out of the police officer’s hand during the performance of her duties,” D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said at a Wednesday morning press conference with Bowser.
According to Smith, multiple incidents of assaults had been reported by officers and ongoing intelligence reports of infiltration and what was happening inside the encampments, including reports of weapons allegedly being collected, is what led law enforcement to act.
“Hundreds” of police officers were allegedly on scene, according to the school’s student newspaper.