I'm sure this is just a ... coincidence. After more than six months of violent protests and intimidation campaigns on behalf of Hamas at George Washington University, DC police finally swept the encampment and protesters off campus. Beginning at 3 am, officers began warning people to leave, at which time they began chanting, "We will not be pushed aside!"

And then police pushed them aside, making at least 33 arrests:

And here's where we get to the coincidence, emphasis mine:

Police moved in shortly after 3 a.m. Lynch said demonstrators clashed with police at least once and deployed pepper spray on a public street just outside the encampment. The operation was still ongoing around 5 a.m., and the number of arrests and a breakdown of charges was not immediately available. It could not be determined how many were students.

The move on the encampment came just hours before the District’s mayor and police chief were set to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill about why they had declined requests from the university for nearly two weeks to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment from the school’s grounds.

As Wilford Brimley said in the film Absence of Malice: "Wonderful thing, subpoenas."

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, summoned Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and Chief Pamela A. Smith to testify at 1 p.m., vowing to question the city’s lack of response to the ongoing campus protest despite the university’s repeated requests for help. It was not immediately clear if the move on the demonstration would upend the hearing.

Bowser and Smith plan to attend the hearing, a city spokesperson said Tuesday, before the move on the encampment. Both had been expected to defend their decision-making, which was based on concern about the optics of moving against a small number of peaceful protesters, though Wednesday’s move is likely to change their plans considerably. The first request from university officials came soon after the demonstration began April 25.

This raid was no coincidence; Bowser and Smith wanted to moot the issue so that they could tell Congress that there was no problem in the first place, or better yet, avoid testifying at all. A DCPD spokesperson claimed that the raid was ordered because of the growth of the encampment in recent days, and "more volatile" behavior. But that won't hold up to scrutiny, especially since the school itself wanted action taken two weeks ago, apparently for the same reason. Now, however, Bowser and Smith can argue that they have already taken the action that members of Congress demanded for weeks at GWU, which has become an embarrassment in a town where shame usually goes to die.

And that seems to have worked, as House Oversight chair James Comer announced that the hearing would be canceled. But Comer took a victory lap at Bowser's expense in doing so:

Comer statement after DC police clear out protesters occupying George Washington University: Following the Metropolitan Police Department finally clearing out the unlawful encampment on GW’s campus, I am very pleased to announce that the hearing with Mayor Bowser has been…

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 8, 2024

...I am very pleased to announce that the hearing with Mayor Bowser has been canceled. I had a good conversation with Mayor Bowser. I thanked her for finally clearing the trespassers off the GW Campus. It was unfortunate the situation at GW forced the Oversight Committee to act; however it was apparent that the DC police force was not going to do their job. Therefore, after meeting with GW leadership and touring the encampment, we decided to hold a public hearing to get answers as to why the Mayor would not uphold the law. I am pleased that the potential Oversight hearing led to swift action by Mayor Bowser and MPD Chief Smith. We will continue to hold D.C. officials accountable to ensure our nation’s capital is safe for all.

Did Comer let them off too easy? Perhaps, but he also took credit for the action and denied them and their Democrat allies an opportunity to gaslight, to which we'll return momentarily.

By the way, the demonstrations didn't begin last month. Pro-Hamas agitators have worked GWU since the earliest days of the present conflict. In October, they began by projecting Hamas' genocidal "From the river to the sea" slogan on the library building, along with "Glory to Our Martyrs," an unsubtle bit of cheerleading for the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre. GWU did nothing about it at the time, which is why these 'protests' have metastasized into full-blown Soviet tribunals in which the people call for the beheading of school administrators. Those GWU administrators need to answer for their long delay in ending these slow-boil riots on their campus. 

But when they did call to have these violent agitators removed -- even before the "guillotine!" demands -- the police and the city did absolutely nothing for nearly a fortnight. Bowser and Smith still have to answer for that, and thanks to DC's unique status, they have to answer to Congress at some point, if not today. And while this session of Congress may not decide to flex its jurisdictional muscle in the city, the next session of Congress may be far more inclined to do so, especially with these protests convincing voters around the country that the progressive elites are now completely out of their minds.

Hence, Bowser and Smith will attempt to gaslight Congress one way or the other, as well as the citizens of DC and voters more broadly. They will pretend that the raid was a complete coincidence, and that it came about organically. Everyone will know, though, that all it took was a little light shining on the radicals in Bowser's city administration to get the cockroaches to scurry.

Perhaps presciently, Glenn Reynolds wrote last night that a healthy application of sunlight has been working elsewhere as well:

With support from lefty foundations and NGOs, and training from professional leftists activists, pro-Hamas encampments were established at campuses all across America.  Libraries were the victim of rampages, Jewish students literally wound up hiding in attics, were assaulted, and were taunted and greeted with chants of “go back to Poland.”  “Checkpoints” manned by Hamas sympathizers barred Jewish students, or anyone who wouldn’t renounce “Zionism,” from some parts of campus.  American flags were torn down and replaced with Palestinian flags.   It looked as if the protesters had the momentum, as university administrations responded supinely.  And then, something happened.

People fought back.  Mostly fraternity guys, who in this season have become the defenders of Western civilization. ...

For decades, of course, leftist mobs on campus have run wild without much pushback.  Their threats and destruction have been excused as just a “passion for justice” or some such twaddle.  While university administrators demand exquisite sensitivity to the feelings of favored groups, everyone else is told to just put up with lefty excesses.

But a funny thing happened:  When people started pushing back, suddenly the administrators got some backbone.

And in DC, at least, not just the administrators.