At Trump Tower, activists protest against arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil

A group of US Jewish activists have protested at Trump Tower in New York City, calling for the immediate release of Palestinian Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained for organising a pro-Palestine protest on campus.

Footage of the sit-in showed police forces escorting protesters out of the tower and arresting them.

“The abduction of Mahmoud Khalil by the Trump regime is further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by an authoritarian regime. As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads,” Jane Hirschmann, an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace, said in a statement.