The New York Police Department has made multiple arrests after dozens of activists swarmed Trump Tower to protest the immigration arrest of a Columbia University activist.
Chaotic scenes showed NYPD officers dragging out members of the group Jewish Voice for Peace on Thursday.
Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen and who hasn’t been charged with breaking any laws, was arrested outside his New York City apartment on Saturday and faces deportation.
President Donald Trump has said Khalil’s arrest was the first “of many to come” and vowed on social media to deport students who he said engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”
At Thursday’s protest, the demonstrators – who wore red shirts reading “Jews say stop arming Israel” and carried banners reading “Opposing fascism is a Jewish tradition” and “Fight Nazis not students” – chanted “Bring Mahmoud home now!”
Police, who were staged inside and outside the Fifth Avenue building, just off Central Park, ahead of the demonstration, began arresting protesters after warning them to leave.
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