Biden used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents’ Association banquet to jab at his rival, Donald Trump, following the jokes with solemn warnings about what he said would happen if the Republican won the presidency again.
Some demonstrators knelt in their underwear while blindfolded. Source: AAP / Terrance Williams/AP
Biden’s speech, which lasted about 10 minutes, made no mention of the ongoing war or the .
“Shame on you!” protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who were holding clutch purses, as guests and other participants hurried inside.
Some protesters ran after the event’s guests, shouting “Shame on you!” as they hurried inside. Source: AAP / Kevin Wolf/AP
Chants accused US journalists of under-covering the war and misrepresenting it.
Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with “press” insignia.
Pro-Palestinian protesters lay on the road, as attendees of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner walk past them. Source: AAP / Terrance Williams/AP
Ralliers cried “Free, free Palestine.”
They cheered when at one point someone inside the Washington Hilton — where the dinner has been held for decades — unfurled a Palestinian flag from a top-floor hotel window.
The Palestinian flag was hung out a window at the Washington Hilton hotel. Source: AAP / Terrance Williams/AP
Criticism of the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s six-month-old military offensive in Gaza , with students pitching encampments in an effort to force their universities to divest from Israel.
A pro-Israel demonstrator (left) confronts a pro-Palestinian demonstrator (right). Source: AAP / Terrance Williams/AP
More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether.
“We are subjected to detentions, interrogations, and torture by the Israeli military, all for the ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”
Press vests covered in red paint were displayed on the footpath to represent the journalists killed during the Hamas-Israel war. Source: AAP / Terrance Williams/AP
According to a preliminary investigation released on Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war.
The escalation in conflict came after an attack on Israel by Hamas in which over 1,100 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Tyler Mitchell