Chicago, MINA – Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Chicago on Tuesday to protest Israel’s occupation of Gaza and demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist arrested by federal police for leading protests at Columbia University in New York.
Protesters condemned his detention and the revocation of his green card, chanting slogans and holding signs, Anadolu Agency reported.
President Donald Trump defended the arrest, calling Khalil a “foreign pro-Hamas student” and stating that it was “the first arrest of many to come.”
Meanwhile, protesters vowed to continue opposing human rights violations under his administration.
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Jinan Chehade, a lawyer and activist, told Anadolu that thousands joined the protest to demand Khalil’s release, calling his detention a political act of repression.
“Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian activist who was kidnapped from his home by this system, by this administration,” she said.
Chehade emphasized that no force could silence the demonstrators, declaring: “We are here in the millions across the US to say that we protect each other and we will never be silenced against the genocide in Gaza and our US taxpayer dollars going to pay for the ethnic cleansing and the occupation in Palestine.”
Khalil, a green card holder and a recent Columbia University graduate, was arrested Saturday at his university-owned residence in New York. According to his lawyer, Amy Greer, Khalil was “wrongfully arrested” by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who claimed his student visa had been revoked. However, Khalil is a legal permanent resident and is married to a US citizen who is eight months pregnant.
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Protests in support of Khalil spread across the country, with dozens of demonstrators marching Monday to ICE headquarters in Washington, DC. On Tuesday, about a dozen protesters were arrested in New York after clashing with NYPD officers. The NYPD later confirmed that one person was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration, while 11 others were given summonses. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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