Protesters occupy Trump Tower following arrest of Columbia student

NEW YORK - Scores of people poured into the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on March 13 to protest the arrest and detention of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, whom the Trump administration aims to deport over his pro-Palestinian activism.

The

arrest of Khalil,

who is in immigration custody in Louisiana after his arrest in New York on March 8, has sparked an outcry by Democratic lawmakers, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories, and civil liberty advocates, among others.

Jewish Voice for Peace, which describes itself as a progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organisation, carried out the March 13 demonstration.

The group said it was “taking over the Trump Tower to register our mass refusal.”

“We will not stand by as this fascist regime attempts to criminalise Palestinians and all those calling for an end to the Israeli government’s US-funded genocide of the Palestinian people,” the group said in a post on X.

Trump Tower, located on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, is home to the Trump Organisation and where President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump own a penthouse apartment. Their son, Barron, has been living there since beginning his freshman year at New York University in the fall.

At least 150 protesters gathered at Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the New York Police Department estimated.

Images on social media showed demonstrators carrying signs saying: “Fight Nazis, not students” and “Free Mahmoud, free Palestine.”

Video showed police arresting some of the protesters. The New York Police Department was not able to confirm how many arrests were made.

Mr Kaz Daughtry, the deputy mayor for public safety, said on Fox News that there were no injuries and all the protesters had been removed from the building.

The Trump Organisation did not immediately provide comment.

By arresting Khalil on March 8, the Trump administration began fulfilling its campaign promise to

deport foreign-born activists

who participated in the wave of protests on US college campuses in 2024. The protests followed Israel’s military assault on Gaza, which came after

the October 2023 attack

by the militant group Hamas, which controlled the Palestinian enclave.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, has been a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian student movement at Columbia, perhaps the most prominent of the dozens of US universities

where demonstrations erupted

in 2024.

Mr Trump branded Khalil a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student”

on social media

and has said his arrest is the first “of many to come.” REUTERS