Pro-Palestinian protesters confronted guests arriving at the Washington, D.C. hotel where President Joe Biden is set to speak at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday evening, criticizing what they say is media complicity in the “genocide” of Gaza.
With about 100 demonstrators in attendance, many of them dressed in Palestinian keffiyehs and watermelon symbols, they chanted “free, free Palestine” outside of the Washington Hilton, videos posted to social media show. Guests in evening wear could be seen passing protesters as they made their way toward the venue, with some of the demonstrators confronting them and chanting, “Shame on you!”
“We demand coverage!” the protesters chanted at one point, holding signs that said “Free Palestine” and waving Palestinian flags. A large Palestinian flag could be seen hanging from the window of a room on the top floor of the Hilton, where the event will take place several stories below.
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According to the organizers, the demonstrations are meant to draw attention to the media’s coverage of Israel and Gaza in addition to criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict. The dinner, typically meant to honor journalists with a presidential roast, became a target of pro-Palestinian boycott in April, when several Palestinian journalists issued an open letter criticizing the event for its display of luxury while scores of media workers who have died covering Gaza are ignored.
“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is an embodiment of media manipulation, trading journalistic ethics for access,” the letter reads. “For journalists to fraternize at an event with President Biden and Vice President Harris would be to normalize, sanitize, and whitewash the administration’s role in genocide.”
Biden’s motorcade will pass the demonstrators, who are protesting along the planned arrival route, before he arrives at the event. He’s scheduled to speak before a crowd of 3,000 this evening.
