BREAKING: NYPD arrest agitators occupying Trump Tower over Mahmoud Khalil deportation, war in Gaza

Left-wing activists flooded into Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday, occupying the building in protest of the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who has been slated for deportation over his major involvement in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University. NYPD was seen moving in to arrest the agitators.

The group, Jewish Voice for Peace, was heard chanting "bring Mahmoud home now," and wrote on X, "Hundreds of US Jews and friends are taking over the Trump Tower to say: Come for one, face us all." Agitators sported signs that read "Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine" "You can't deport a movement," and "Fight Nazis not Students."

The group wrote, "Under the guise of fighting antisemitism, the Trump regime is using attacks on the movement for Palestinian freedom as an opening to dismantle civil liberties and the entire progressive movement. This is how fascism works. We refuse to be divided or silenced."

According to the Associated Press, police had been stationed both inside and outside Trump Tower ahead of the occupation, and began arresting protesters after warning them to leave the premises. Police were seen hauling off the agitators out of the building.

 

After his arrest on Saturday night and the revocation of his green card by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Khalil was transferred to a Louisiana detention center. Khalil has been in the US since December 2023 and is married to an American woman. Khalil has served as a spokesperson for the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group. In the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, numerous anti-Israel protests have taken place on Columbia’s campus.

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