Nearly 100 people were arrested Thursday after staging a sit-in at Trump Tower in New York City, the NYPD said.
It started at around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, police said.
According to police, roughly 150 people dressed in civilian clothes entered Trump Tower just before noon. Once inside, they removed their shirts to reveal red t-shirts with pro-Palestinian slogans on it and staged a sit-in.
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Video from inside the building shows a group went to the public area inside the building and then began chanting “Free Mahmoud,” a reference to pro-Palestinian Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend. Additional video shows several of the protesters sitting in the lobby, clapping and chanting “Free Palestine.”
“Within 10 minutes, we started responding here from the police department. Within 40 minutes, 50 minutes, we started making arrests. We ended up making 98 arrests of people trespassing, obstructing governmental administration in this building,” NYPD Chief of Department John Chell said. “We secured this building, we secured this perimeter, and we removed people who were under arrest. I am very happy with the professionalism that we showed today. Quite frankly, there was no damaged property, no injuries, and we cleared this up within two hours – a big task for the NYPD.”
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Chell was pleased with the performance of the NYPD.
“The NYPD, the city, since October 7th ’23, has handled over 5,000 protests. We’re the best in the business at what we do, and I think we demonstrated today what a professional organization we are and how well we do it,” Chell said.
Protest organizers – Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish group – said that actor Debra Winger was among those protesting.
“We’re seeing the Trump regime weaponize antisemitism to attack freedom of speech,” Tal Frieden of Jewish Voice for Peace said.
“If you are American and you believe in the Constitution, you should be standing here today,” actor Morgan Spector said.
“We have a right to express our opinion, but I refuse to allow my fear to stop me from expressing my First Amendment rights,” protester Josh Dubnau said.
The Anti-Defamation League said Jewish Voice for Peace does not represent the mainstream Jewish community.
“The issue is not students saying they support Palestine, but it’s students taking action – blocking Jewish students from accessing parts of campus,” attorney Gerard Filitti of the group End Jew Hatred. “When you’re saying ‘globalize the intifada,’ the intifada is known as violence targeting specifically Jews in Israel. So you discriminating against and identifiable group of people, which in this case is antisemitic.”
CAIR suing Columbia University, Congressional committee
While investigating antisemitism last year, the Congressional Committee on Education and Workforce demanded disciplinary records from universities.
The Council on American Islamic Relations, New York is now suing the committee and Columbia University for handing those over.
The plaintiffs are Khalil and seven other students who say that was a violation of the Family Education Rights Privacy Act.
“Because people felt free, if Congress is labeling these people as dissidents, as antisemites, as radicals, as all these things, it gives people permission to then go out and violate their privacy,” said Khalil’s attorney, Amy Greer.
“Allowing congress or institutions like Columbia to target you because of viewpoint you hold is an epic danger to American values,” CAIR New York executive director Afaf Nasher said.
Columbia declined to comment on the CAIR lawsuit, and a rep for the education committee said in part, “The lawsuit changes nothing… Republicans are steadfast in their commitment to protecting American values and students’ ability to learn.”
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
Khalil is a pro-Palestinian activist who was involved in demonstrations at Columbia University, where he was a grad student. His arrest by ICE agents in New York City on Saturday – and his subsequent transfer to Louisiana to be held pending a hearing on whether or not he can be deported – set off a high-profile legal battle and protests.
Greer said she spoke with Khalil by phone Wednesday night.
“The first thing he said was, ‘Don’t worry, I’m OK,'” she said. “He’s very community-centric … I think it was really moving for him to know how many people showed up in return.”
