Anti-Genocide Protesters Arrested After Gathering at Trump Tower to Demand Release of Mahmoud Khalil
New York (Quds News Network)- About 100 protesters were arrested after gathering at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Thursday to denounce the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate who was detained by ICE over his pro-Palestine activism.
The protest, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), began shortly after noon when demonstrators dressed in red shirts that read “Not in our Name” and “Jews Say Stop Arming Israel,” crammed into the Tower’s iconic golden atrium.
They chanted “Free Mahmoud Khalil” and unfurled banners that read “Never Again for Anyone”, “Jews Say Do Not Comply”, and “Come For One, Face Us All”, among others.
98 people were later arrested and 50 were led from the lobby in zip ties and placed into awaiting police vehicles, according to the New York Police Department. No injuries or property damage was reported, the New York Police Department said.
NYPD arrested 98 Jewish protesters who descended into Trump Tower in New York City, demanding the release of a pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who led Columbia University protests in 2024 against Israel's war in Gaza and was arrested by US immigration officials. pic.twitter.com/BhWuTAwJM2
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 14, 2025
JVP said those arrested included “Jewish elders, descendants of Holocaust survivors, and students” and that police dragged the demonstrators out of the sit-in by their arms and legs.”
“Jews say: Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine!” the group said.
As the NYPD moved in to arrest the demonstrators, they sat in unison and began chanting, “Free Palestine,” and “the whole world is watching.”
On Saturday, Khalil who is a permanent resident of the US, was detained by the ICE agents when he arrived at his home at a student resident facility with his pregnant wife over his activism as he played a key role in pro-Palestine and anti-genocide demonstrations on campus. He acted as a negotiator with university officials during protests for Palestine in the spring of 2024. The agents said they planned to revoke his green card at the behest of the US Department of State.
On Monday, US District Judge Jesse Furman temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation. On Wednesday, the judge extended that prohibition in a written order – following a hearing in New York’s Manhattan federal court – to allow himself more time to consider whether the student’s arrest was unconstitutional.
Khalil’s lawyers said his arrest outside his university residence in Manhattan was in retaliation for his outspoken advocacy against Israel’s assault on Gaza, and thus violated Khalil’s right to free speech under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
“Mr Khalil was identified, targeted, detained and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights,” Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem said in court on Wednesday.
On Monday, in a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump described the arrest of Khalil as “the first arrest of many to come”.
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” Trump said.
