Angry scenes as protesters dragged away from Trump Towers hours after Afghanistan bombing
POLICE and protesters have clashed during a violent anti-Donald Trump demonstrations in the heart of New York city.
Protestors are dragged away from Trump Tower by officers from the New York Police Department
Members of the Rise and Resist movement staged a noisy sit-in protest in the lobby of Trump Tower - which came hours after a US bombing in Afghanistan.
They hung banners and blocked elevators in the 58th-storey building in midtown Manhattan.
New York Police Department forcibly removed around 25 people from the building as they chanted: "Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here!"
SHOCKING scenes as anti-Trump protests turn violent
Rise and Resist organised the Trump Tower demo
Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here!
They were arrested and riven away in a fleet of police vans.
Trump Tower was temporarily closed during the demonstration.
Rise and Resist campaign against Donald Trump’s controversial policies requiring extreme vetting of immigrants.
An NYPD spokeswoman said it was unclear if first lady Melania Trump and son Barron were in the building at the time.
Police arrested around 25 protestors
Mr Trump was in Washington as the US’s latest military operations in Afghanistan got under way.
A Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb – the largest non-nuclear weapon in its arsenal - was dropped on an ISIS tunnel and cave complex in Afghanistan.
Officials confirmed it was the first time the GBU-43 bomb, which weighs 21,600 pounds, is 30 feet long and contains 11 tons of explosives, has been used.
Mr Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer said the US is taking the threat from ISIS “very seriously”.
Trump Tower was temporarily closed during the demo
He said: “In order to defeat the group we must deny them operational space. Which we did.
“The United States took all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage as a result of the operation.”
Sources said the bomb dropped is known as an MOAB - the 'mother of all bombs'.
The blast radius is believed to be over 300 meters.