About 150 protesters supporting Mahmoud Khalil occupied the lobby area of Trump Tower on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Thursday, calling for the release of the anti-Israel activist who was detained over the weekend.
The protesters, many dressed in red, held signs reading “Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine” and “Fight Nazis Not Students.” The protesters were also chanting the common “Free, free Palestine” slogan.
After occupying the lobby area – the same area where President Donald Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign – the NYPD began detaining several of them and hauled multiple demonstrators out of the building in zip ties.
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NYPD Chief of Department John Chell said there were 98 people arrested in two hours with no issues. All of the protesters have since been removed.
Police were seen loading arrested protesters into a big NYPD van while the remaining detained protesters were put in an MTA bus outside Trump Tower.
There were no injuries, no incidents and no damage to property damage, Chell said. The protesters are charged with trespassing, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.
Chell said they entered Trump Tower in regular clothing with protest gear underneath shortly after noon.
The Jewish Voice for Peace said it helped organize the protest. The group’s X account says its aim is to organize Jews “toward Palestinian liberation and Judaism beyond Zionism.”
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“As Jews, we are taking over the Trump Tower to register our mass refusal,” the group wrote.
“We will not stand by as this fascist regime attempts to criminalize Palestinians and all those calling for an end to the Israeli government’s US-funded genocide of the Palestinian people. And we will never stop fighting for a free Palestine. If you come for one, you face us all. Free Mahmoud, free Palestine!”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., took to X to share a concerning update: “Protesters have OCCUPIED Trump TOWER in NYC chanting ‘Free Mahmoud, Free them All!’ I know the owner of that building and he will definitely be pressing charges. FAFO.”
Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, said “the owner should press charges. We all know who that is!”
Barron Trump, the president’s youngest son, lives in Trump Tower but it was unclear if he was in the building at the time of the protest.
Among the protesters was actor Debra Winger, who has discussed her Jewish faith and upbringing over the years, Fox 5 reported.
Winger accused the Trump administration of having “no interest in Jewish safety” and “co-opting antisemitism.”
“I’m just standing up for my rights, and I’m standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed location,” she told The Associated Press. “Does that sound like America to you?”
ICE agents arrested Khalil – one of the ringleaders of anti-Israel protests at Columbia University last year – at his university-owned apartment on the city’s Upper West Side on Saturday. Agents told him they were revoking his green card and student visa, according to Khalil’s attorneys.
Protests have erupted all week in Manhattan following Khalil’s detainment. He is being held in Louisiana while a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him before his case is heard.
His supporters say he is being held for exercising his free speech and for supporting Palestine, while the Trump White House says he is a U.S. national security risk and distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers on campus.
Khalil, who is a Palestinian raised in Syria and a permanent U.S. resident, is married to an American citizen who is currently eight months pregnant.
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The protest on Thursday broke out at one of President Trump’s signature buildings. Trump developed the 58-story skyscraper in the early 1980s and serves as the headquarters for the Trump Organization.
It houses several luxury residential condominiums, office spaces and retail establishments, as well as a penthouse residence belonging to the president.
