Jewish demonstrators

Palestinian activist in custody: protest at Trump Tower

(Bild: AFP/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

Following the arrest and planned deportation of Palestinian university activist Mahmoud Khalil in the USA, dozens of people demonstrated at Trump Tower. On placards, the participants demanded the release of Khalil, among other things.

According to media reports, the police broke up the unannounced protest in the lobby of Trump Tower, a skyscraper in the middle of Manhattan where US President Donald Trump used to have his main residence. The organization Jewish Voices for Peace announced online that it had initiated the action. 

According to media reports, US immigration officials broke into Khalil's apartment on Sunday night and took the young man with them. He was taken to a detention center in the state of Louisiana, pending trial.

(Bild: AP/Yuki Iwamura)

(Bild: EPA/SARAH YENESEL)

According to the White House, Khalil had distributed propaganda for the Islamist Hamas. He had also organized protest groups that disrupted classes and harassed Jewish students.

Critics are alarmed
The Palestinian is a graduate of Columbia University in New York and, according to his lawyer, lives in the USA with an unlimited residence permit, a green card. According to reports, a court initially blocked Khalil's deportation to give the judiciary time to make a decision.

Critics are not only alarmed because Khalil has not yet received due process and is instead being held in Louisiana, thousands of kilometers away from New York. They also fear that the White House is setting a precedent with a vague justification in order to carry out more such deportations in future and silence critics.