Hundreds of Palestinian protesters have entered Trump Tower in New York City with the message: ‘Fight Nazi, not students.’
Protesters with Jewish Voice for Peace chanted ‘Free Mahmoud, Free them All!’ while taking over the lobby of the hotel on Thursday morning.
They held the demonstration in support of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who is facing deportation.
Many of the protesters wore red shirts with the lettering in white: ‘Not in our name’ and ‘Stop arming Israel’.
They held large white banners stating, ‘Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine’ and ‘Jews say do not comply’.
The protesters filled the gold-tinted ground floor of the hotel by Trump Grill as onlookers recorded the energetic scene from higher floors.
Cops outside the Fifth Avenue hotel had warned demonstrators to leave or risk arrest.
Among the more than 200 protester was actor Debra Winger.
Jewish Voice for Peace protesters entered Trump Tower on Thursday morning (Picture: AP)
‘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 said.
‘Does that sound like America to you?’
Winger claimed that the Trump administration is ‘co-opting antisemitism’ and has ‘no interest in Jewish safety’.
Khalil, 30, was one of the main orchestrators of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia last year. Similar demonstrations were subsequently held at other colleges across the US.
The protesters wore red shirts with words including, ‘Stop arming Israel’.
The green card holder and US permanent resident was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Saturday night in his apartment in front of his pregnant wife.
President Donald Trump has labeled Khalil a terrorist sympathizer.
A Trump administration document stated that Khalil is ‘subject to removal from the United States’.
‘The Secretary of State has determined that your presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,’ read the documented seen by NBC News.
More than 200 protesters stormed Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan (Picture: AP)
Columbia warned students and faculty that that they could be subject to a crackdown by the administration.
‘Nobody can protect you,’ said journalism school’s dean, Jelani Cobb .
‘These are dangerous times.’
Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan has previously experienced protests from groups for and against him, but most have been staged outside. The multi-level atrium including the lobby has restaurants and shops and is open to the public.
The protesters gathered outside of Trump Grill in the lobby of Trump Tower (Picture: X/@S_MeyersonKnox)
Khalil’s supporters held a demonstration in Lower Manhattan earlier this week.
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