Pro-Palestinian protesters fill NY's Trump Tower
NEW YORK
Hundreds of Jewish demonstrators overran New York's Trump Tower on March 14 in support of Palestinians as well as detained Palestinian student campaigner Mahmoud Khalil.
Wearing matching red T-shirts emblazoned with "Jews say stop arming Israel," the group protested for over an hour inside the Manhattan skyscraper, where U.S. President Donald Trump's family business is headquartered and he has a personal residence.
The building was also where Trump memorably rode down a golden escalator in 2015 to announce his first run for president.
Police said they arrested 98 people, marching under the banner of the group called Jewish Voice for Peace, for crimes including trespassing.
The group, which apparently caught security and police off guard, chanted "fight Nazis, not students," a reference to Trump's crackdown on foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
Police loaded detained protesters on buses, including a repurposed city bus, in front of the Gucci store at the foot of the tower as a helicopter and drone flew overhead.
Across town at Columbia University, where Khalil had been a student, administrators announced they had issued "multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations and expulsions" of students who had occupied a campus building last year during demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Columbia University has expelled or suspended some students who took over a campus building during pro-Palestinian protests last spring and temporarily revoked the diplomas of others who have since graduated.
The university said in a campus-wide email that a judicial board brought a range of sanctions against students who occupied Hamilton Hall last spring to protest the war in Gaza.
