NYPD arrests at least a dozen pro-Mahmoud Khalil demonstrators as 'pro-Hamas' Columbia graduate faces deportation
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • one week ago • 19 commentsBy: Jack Morphet (New York Post)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Jack Morphet and David Propper Published March 11, 2025, 5:16 p.m. ET
About a dozen people were cuffed as they clashed with NYPD officers during a demonstration in support of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil on Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Cops swarmed in to make arrests after throngs of protesters blocked a downtown Manhattan street, despite repeated warnings from police to clear the roadway.
One keffiyeh-clad rabble-rouser was tackled to the ground by a pair of officers during his arrest.
"Move, cops, get out the way, we know you're Israeli-trained," some protesters taunted during the tense, caught-on-video scene where police blocked protesters from entering City Hall Park. "Oink, oink, piggy, piggy. We're gonna make your lives s-tty."
Cops blared a message on a loop warning protesters that if they remained in the roadway, they were going to be arrested and slapped with disorderly conduct charges.
The NYPD said late Tuesday one person was hit with disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration charges and another 11 were issued summonses.
Khalil, at the center of a national firestorm, was detained Saturday by federal authorities and faces the threat of deportation for what the White House said Tuesday was peddling "pro-Hamas" views.
The arrest comes as President Trump has vowed to root out alleged antisemitism by foreign citizens on college campuses, including at Columbia, which has been a hotbed for fiery anti-Israel protests for the past year and a half.
About 350 protesters started out at Washington Square Park earlier Tuesday and marched to Federal Plaza Immigration Court, grinding traffic to a halt multiple times as they chanted anti-Israel slogans and called for Khalil's freedom.
"There is only one solution, intifada revolution," protesters crowed as the crowds grew to about 500.
The group was trying to make speeches in front of the federal courthouse in the middle of the street, but was ordered by the NYPD to keep moving. When the protest tried to enter City Hall Park, cops blocked marchers and forced them to turn around before the chaos unfolded.
One tourist visiting from Texas who saw the protest pass by her earlier Tuesday wondered why the protesters were hiding their faces with masks and Palestinian headscarves.
"They're embarrassed to show who they really are," Andrea Benatar, 44, told The Post.
"If they're so proud of freeing Palestine, why not show their faces?
"I'd like them to go and live in Gaza. They clearly have no sympathy for the Jewish people in Israel, including children, who were murdered and kidnapped," she added.
Police officers also took a man into custody after he got into an argument with a protester.
12Protesters brought signs calling for the release of Khalil from ICE custody. James Keivom12Police officers setting up barriers near Columbia. James Keivom
A demonstrator, Anastacia Symone, 30, claimed the man grabbed a young protester by the throat and took a swing at him.
"I'm here to call for the release of Mahmoud Khalil. He was at home with his family when he was criminalized for expressing his freedom of speech," Symone said.
Protesters argued that Khalil was targeted because he is the "cornerstone in our community," calling him a "political prisoner."
12Police officers leading a detained man away from the anti-Israel protest. James Keivom12Anti-Israel protesters attempting to pull a protester away from the NYPD. James Keivom
"The Trump administration and the complicit Columbia University believe if they separate us from this key cornerstone of our community, our movement will begin to crumble," the protesters screamed.
Khalil was being held in Louisiana ahead of a scheduled hearing before a federal judge Wednesday morning to determine the next steps in the highly controversial case.
Khalil has a green card and is married to a US citizen, who is pregnant.
His legal team wants him returned to New York, arguing the federal government is "engaging in blatant efforts to target and chill" their client's free speech and to "discriminate against particular viewpoints."
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The US has every right to vet those who are threats to the country.
All of a sudden, we hear the left argue for free speech after denying that very right on campus.
It isn't just on campus the left tried to restrict free speech.
Our readers need not worry. I'll be here.
In memory of Edward R Murrow. I might even have to take up smoking as I type.
here is only one solution, intifada revolution
It's 2025, and Democrats are all in for a religious fundamentalist death cult that wants to destroy Israel. So much for "never again"
It is interesting that the more Hamas embraces things Democrats claim to hate like killing gays, genocide, treating women like property, the destruction of tolerant societies, anti-semitism etc. the more fervent their support for Hamas grows. Some serious psychological issues at play.
The left does have a huge antisemitism problem.
"Jews will not replace us!" - Some 'good people' at a Charlottesville rally.
Cool. Repeating a lie that's been debunked for seven years.
Do your ears work?
It's been 7 years. Even left wing sites like Snopes admit it's a lie. There's no excuse to keep spreading a lie.
Meanwhile, plenty of video footage exists where marchers are opening their mouths and “Jews will not replace us” is coming out. That is real and undebunkable - and those cretins are on the same side as the “good people” Trump thinks showed up to protest the removal of a racially and socially controversial statue.
Hopefully they will be held accountable but I doubt they will.
"There is only one solution, intifada revolution," protesters crowed as the crowds grew to about 500.
I am surprised a couple dem members of congress didn't show up for this. Then again since everyone was too chickenshit to show their faces maybe they did.
Treat 'em like J6 protesters. Didn't Democrats show the country how to handle rebellions, revolutions, insurrections?
Hound 'em out of the country or put 'em in prison. Don't let Letitia James and Alvin Bragg off the hook, either.
Imagine the crying that would ensue if that happened. IT's not like Democrats didn't set the precedent for handling protestors.
We would be hearing about 6th amendment rights.
I don't think we would. That would mean the J6 protestors would have grounds for suits against the Biden DOJ and Democrats.
It could happen. Biden may have saved his own ass, but the Garland and most democrats never got a pardon.
I don't think Joey's pardons cover civil rights violatons.
Then there are these darwin award candidates:
They can't really be THAT stupid.