Hollywood stars, journalists and distinguished politicians have been met with a crowd of protesters of the Israel–Hamas battle outdoors Saturday’s White Home Correspondents Dinner.
There was rising public discord over the battle and President Joe Biden’s dealing with of the battle, in addition to mainstream media’s protection of it.
This yr’s occasion on the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. — the place the dinner has been held for many years — is headlined by Saturday Night time Stay star Colin Jost, with a number of stars additionally in attendance, together with Chris Pine, Molly Ringwald, Questlove and Rachel Brosnahan. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are additionally on the dinner.
Nevertheless, attendees have been greeted by demonstrators holding banners and chanting “Free, free Palestine” and requires a “ceasefire” as they arrived, in keeping with movies posted on social media. At one level, protesters additionally dropped a Palestinian flag out of one of many Washington Hilton’s home windows.
Biden reportedly prevented the massive protest on the entrance of the lodge by arriving by a again entrance. However different attendees have been seen in social movies strolling by the demonstrations.
The Related Press reported that native legislation enforcement and the Secret Service organized additional road closures and different measures to make sure the “highest ranges of security and safety for attendees,” in keeping with Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
Guglielmi added that the company was working with native police to guard demonstrators’ proper to assemble, nevertheless, “we are going to stay illiberal to any violent or damaging conduct.”
The most recent demonstrations got here after pupil protesters took to school campuses throughout the nation this week to precise their discontent of the Israel-Hamas battle. The protests led to a number of arrests at Emerson Faculty in Boston and the College of Southern California after college officers referred to as police to finish the demonstrations and make arrests.