**WASHINGTON**
Nearly 100 protesters were arrested Thursday following a sit-in at Trump Tower in New York City, where demonstrators demanded the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, according to reports.
At least 98 people were arrested in the lobby of the building, with protesters facing trespassing and resisting arrest charges, ABC News reported, citing he New York Police Department.
The protest, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), drew hundreds of activists who packed the lobby, chanting "Free Mahmoud, Free them all!", "We want justice, you say how? Bring Mahmoud home now!" and "Fight Nazis, not students!"
JVP livestreamed the demonstration, which began around 11.30 a.m. local time (1530GMT) when protesters entered the building in two groups -- some through the front entrance, others by a side door, according to police.
Many wore red shirts emblazoned with the slogans "Not in our name" and "Stop arming Israel."
Khalil, a green card holder and a recent Columbia University who helped organize campus protests last year, was arrested Saturday at his university-owned residence in New York in what his lawyers said is a politically motivated deportation attempt by the Trump administration.
Campaigning last year for the presidency, Trump, behind closed doors, vowed to "throw out" pro-Palestinian foreign student protesters if he were elected, according to The Washington Post.
Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who claimed his student visa was revoked, even though he is a legal permanent resident and not in the US on a student visa. Agents then told him his green card was revoked.
He is married to a US citizen who is eight months pregnant. His wife condemned the arrest, saying she was “left wondering when Mahmoud will get a chance to call me.”
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