Supporters of Columbia University Apartheid Divest leading activist Mahmoud Khalil were arrested after storming the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday, a day after activists rallied outside his Manhattan federal court hearing, with protesters maintaining calls for his release after he had been arrested and his green card revoked Saturday for his role in campus unrest and support for terrorist organizations.
Anti-Zionist organization Jewish Voice for Peace led dozens of activists in “taking over” Trump Tower, objecting to what they said was US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Palestinians and dismantling of civil liberties under the guise of fighting antisemitism.
BREAKING: The Jewish Group, "Jewish Voice for Peace" is holding a sit-in in the lobby of Trump tower right now.They are calling for the release of Mahmoud Khalil. Meanwhile Trump is calling Jewish people "Palestinian" and "Not Really Jewish"You tell me who the antisemite… pic.twitter.com/7SeCgGM9im
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) March 13, 2025
“Come for one, face us all,” JVP said on Instagram. “Mahmoud’s kidnapping has nothing to do with Jewish safety. The Trump administration thinks it can crush dissent and strip away constitutional rights. We know this playbook. We refuse to allow our neighbors to be abducted in our name.”
JVP said in an updated post that many of the activists were arrested and dragged out of the building, adding that the protest coincided with the Fast of Esther, claiming that like her they were “standing up to those in power.”
The People's Forum responded to the JVP action on X, warning that "the movement will only continue to grow!"
The protest in the tower’s lobby marked the third day of protests since Khalil was arrested by the DHS on Saturday evening for leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
Rally outside courthouse
On Wednesday, activists from the Palestinian Youth Movement and the People’s Forum rallied outside the courthouse where his legal team was arguing Khalil’s case, according to Reuters, contending that the government was retaliating for his advocacy against Israel for its military operation in Gaza, and that his constitutionally protected free speech rights were being violated.
A member of Khalil’s legal team explained to the crowd, in a social media video posted by the People’s Forum, that they were seeking to have him returned back to New York from a Louisiana ICE detention facility, so that he could fight the case while being with his pregnant wife. The attorney was also seeking to keep the case in the Manhattan court.
An activist explained in another People’s Forum social media video that “as the lawyers fight in court, we are going to stand in the streets demanding the same thing.”
Activists had also gathered outside the Gracie Mansion to disrupt Mayor Eric Adams’s iftar dinner Tuesday to pressure for Khalil’s release. Earlier in the day, thousands marched through the city, waving Palestinian flags from the area of Washington Square Park to Broadway. The NYPD said that multiple people had been arrested, with 11 being released with summons for disorderly conduct.
Sporadic protests were held elsewhere in the country the same day, with one student temporarily detained at a Stanford University protest.
CUAD had been protesting at Columbia University and affiliate institutions since the October 7 massacre, demanding that the institutions cut ties with Israel. Recent escalations by the group began on the first day of the recent semester, when student activists disrupted an Israeli history class.
Following the incident, a Columbia student was suspended and two Barnard College students expelled. CUAD led two occupations of Barnard buildings to demand amnesty for them and a third student, who was expelled for the occupation of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall.
As tensions rose, the Trump administration revoked $400 million in federal grants for Columbia’s failures to address an atmosphere of antisemitism on campus.