This post was updated March 12 at 10:28 p.m.

Around 200 students and community members protested Tuesday afternoon against the detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and graduate of Columbia University.

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Khalil in his university housing Saturday in New York City and is holding him at a detention center in Louisiana, according to the New York Times. Khalil – a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. – is married to an American citizen, who is eight months pregnant, according to his lawyer’s filing. 

Groups of protesters set up pro-Palestine encampments at Columbia, UCLA and other universities last spring, advocating for the institutions to divest from companies associated with the Israeli military. Khalil was a negotiator and spokesperson during the protests led by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestine group involved in the school’s encampment, according to The New York Times.

[Related: SJP and UC Divest Coalition demonstrations at UCLA]

The UCLA chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine and Faculty for Justice in Palestine announced the protest in an Instagram post Monday. The protesters marched from Dickson Plaza to Murphy Hall around 12:30 p.m. and later marched to Bruin Plaza. 

Protesters chanted, “Release Mahmoud Khalil now,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Free, free Palestine.” One speaker outside Royce Hall, who did not give their name, claimed in a speech that Columbia was complicit in Khalil’s arrest and said they believe UCLA will engage in similar complicity.

“That’s why we have to stand together, strong and united, against the university’s complicity and Zionism and collaborating with the state to kidnap students – students who are fighting against genocide and occupation in Palestine,” the speaker said. 

Mohammed, a UCLA SJP organizer who requested to remain partially anonymous because of safety concerns, said UCLA SJP planned the event to show solidarity with Khalil and to raise awareness about what they alleged to be government repression of pro-Palestine student movements. 

President Donald Trump previously pledged to arrest or expel students who participate in pro-Palestine protests and posted on Truth Social stating Khalil’s arrest would be the first of many. His administration has also promised to revoke funding from universities that allow pro-Palestine protests.

[Related: Trump outlines plans to punish students, campuses involved in ‘illegal’ protests]

Graeme Blair, an FJP spokesperson, added that though the university is under pressure from the U.S. departments of Justice and Education, he believes it should protect its students.

Multiple faculty members spoke at the protest, including Blair and Randall Kuhn, a professor of community health sciences.

“I want UCLA to commit to not allowing ICE agents into university buildings without a warrant,” said Blair, an associate professor of political science who is suing the University. “I want UCLA to commit to protecting its students. I want UCPD to commit to not cooperating directly with ICE.”

[Related: Department of Justice opens investigation into antisemitism allegations at UC]

Micaela Bronstein, a doctoral student in urban schooling, said she was protesting against what she believes is the political arrest of Khalil. She added that she believed the detainment was an act of fascism and said that as a Jewish student, she feels as though antisemitism is used as an excuse to target pro-Palestine protesters. 

“I really hope that one day we can have the intellectual maturity to have that conversation that separates Zionism between Judaism, that they’re two different things,” she added.  

Benjamin Kersten, a spokesperson for Jewish Voice for Peace at UCLA who participated in the protest, said he believes there has never been a more urgent moment to stand in solidarity with Palestine. 

“The arrest – kidnapping – of Mahmoud Khalil by plainclothes DHS (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) officers feels like a move straight out of a fascist and authoritarian playbook,” added Kersten, a doctoral student in art history. “It’s pretty clear that it’s completely retaliatory for speaking out on Palestine.” 

Kersten said they feel that Khalil’s detainment is also misguided because of the fact that Khalil attempted to engage in negotiations with Columbia to bring the encampment to a close. 

“I am a Jewish person who is deeply invested in Jewish community, in Jewish safety, in building the futures that I think all Jewish people deserve,” he said. “The most effective way that’s going to happen is if that fight is waged in solidarity with the people around us, and not through militarism, not through a nation state. … Palestinian liberation is part of collective liberation.”

The UCLA administration recently suspended SJP’s and Graduate SJP’s statuses as official campus organizations following a February protest where members chanted outside the home of UC Regent Jay Sures and left red handprints onto his garage door.

[Related: Chancellor Julio Frenk announces suspension of two pro-Palestine student groups]

Katie Marsden, a first-year history student who participated in the Tuesday protest, said she believed that Khalil’s detainment was a violation of fundamental rights.

“I was really disturbed by what I saw about how the government could take people away for political reasons or because they disagreed with them,” she added. “I felt like it was not legal.”

Marsden said she hopes people do not view the protest as an attack on other groups but instead as an event to spread awareness, as well as protect and unite people. 

Usife Ahmad, a third-year political science student, said he was listening to and observing the march and believed those involved had a right to protest, regardless of their citizenship status. 

“Rights are not just for citizens,” said Ahmad, who is Palestinian. “I think it’s overpolicing, and I think they’re discriminately going after people who are speaking out against injustice.”

UCLA SafeRide, a campus transportation service, stopped servicing Murphy Hall stops Tuesday afternoon, according to a notification its app sent to users. 

“The university carefully monitored for potential violations of Time, Place and Manner policies and will take appropriate action if they are verified,” a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

UCPD public safety aides also filmed parts of the protest, an action that Blair said he believes puts students in danger. UCPD did not respond in time to a request for comment on the filming.

Undergraduate Students Association Council President Adam Tfayli said the university is planning to expand areas where public expression is allowed and said he attended the protest to get feedback on the campus climate.

Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck, who is responsible for university Time, Place and Manner policies that regulate protests, watched the event from a window on the west side of Murphy Hall. 

[Related: UCLA set to revise Time, Place and Manner policies, expand public expression areas]

Around 10 counter-protesters, including students, showed up at the protest waving Israeli flags, with some attempting to push toward the front of the protest. One of them hoisted a sign reading, “MOTHERS AGAINST COLLEGE ANTISEMITISM,” and some of them shouted, “Take off your mask” at protest speakers.

The protest ended at Bruin Plaza around 2 p.m., with speakers calling attention to next week’s UC Board of Regents meeting at UCLA and protesters chanting, “We’ll be back.” 

Kersten said he believes Khalil’s arrest should be taken overall as a sign of repression of pro-Palestine protests.

“It is clear it is part of a broader attack on Palestine and Palestinian solidarity but also on the freedom of speech, on universities, on the institutions of our civil democracy,” Kersten added.

Contributing reports from Alexandra Crosnoe, Nicolas Greamo, Zimo Li, Shiv Patel, Dylan Winward and Madeline Woo, Daily Bruin staff.