Demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace carried banners and wore red t-shirts with messages such as "Stop arming Israel" and chanted "Bring Mahmoud home now" during the protest on Thursday.
The police urged demonstrators to leave the building, which many did not comply with. According to the police, 98 people were arrested, among other things, for trespassing and resisting an officer. The arrested were taken away in police cars and buses from the building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who has a permanent residence permit in the USA and is married to an American citizen, was arrested outside his apartment on Saturday and now risks being deported despite never having been convicted of any crime in the USA.
President Donald Trump has said that Khalil's arrest was "the first of many to come" and promised on social media to deport students who engage in "pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activities".
Among the demonstrators was actress Debra Winger, who has accused the Trump administration of "having no interest in Jewish security" and of "abetting anti-Semitism".
I'm just standing up for my rights and I'm standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who was taken away illegally and taken to a secret location, she told AP.
