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Scores of people stormed the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday to protest the arrest and detention of Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, whom the Trump administration aims to deport over his alleged pro-Palestinian activism.

The arrest of Khalil, who is currently in immigration custody in Louisiana after his arrest in New York on Saturday, has prompted an outcry by Democratic lawmakers, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories, and civil liberty

Jewish Voice for Peace, which describes itself as a progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization, carried out Thursday’s demonstration.

According to the group, it was taking over the Trump Tower to register their mass refusal.

“We will not stand by as this fascist regime attempts to criminalize Palestinians and all those calling for an end to the Israeli government’s US-funded genocide of the Palestinian people,” the group said in a post on X.

DAILY POST reports that Trump Tower located on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, is home to the Trump Organization and where President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump own a penthouse apartment.

Their son, Barron, is said to have been living there since beginning his freshman year at New York University in the fall.

The New York Police Department estimated that no fewer than 150 protesters gathered at Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Images on social media showed demonstrators carrying signs saying, “fight Nazis not students” and “free Mahmoud free Palestine.”

According to Kaz Daughtry, the deputy mayor for public safety, there were no injuries and all the protesters had been removed from the building.

Meanwhile, the Trump Organization has not yet commented on the development.

By arresting Khalil on Saturday, the Trump administration began fulfilling its campaign promise to deport foreign-born activists who participated in the wave of protests on US college campuses last year.

The protests followed Israel’s military assault on Gaza, which came after the October 2023 attack by the militant group Hamas, which controlled the Palestinian enclave.