Pro-Immigrant Activists Just Took Over the Trump Tower Lobby and Shut It Down

A group of activists protesting President Trump’s anti-immigrant policies temporarily halted activity in the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday afternoon.

Several dozen protesters occupied Trump’s Manhattan skyscraper, waving signs opposing the administration’s attempted Muslim travel ban and proposed border wall. Activists also unfurled large banners reading “NO BAN,” “NO WALL,” and “NO RAIDS,” from the lobby’s second floor.

According to Rise and Resist, the activist group behind today’s protest, participants also acted as “tour guides” inside the skyscraper’s atrium, sharing information about the the anti-immigrant actions taken by the Trump administration since the President come into office.

One organizer of Thursday’s sit-in estimated that around 50 people participated in the protest.

“We oppose and reject the Trump Administration’s hateful policies towards immigrants and refugees,” Alexis Danzig, a participant in the protest, said in a statement. “Specifically those targeting Muslim-majority countries named by Trump’s Islamophobic ban, and policies directed towards the people of South and Central America.”

By mid-afternoon, several protesters were filmed being restrained and placed into waiting police vehicles parked outside Trump Tower.

Thursday’s protest comes just one day after reports that President Trump plans to dramatically scale up his administration’s crackdown on immigrant communities in the United States.