Photo: Collected
Security was tight Saturday (27 April) as the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner kicked off, with President Joe Biden to make what is a traditionally lighthearted address amid protests and boycott calls over the conflict in Gaza.
A long list of VIP guests, including journalists and celebrities from Chris Pine to Molly Ringwald, arrived in black-tie attire as more than 100 protesters outside the Washington Hilton hotel chanted "shame on you" and other slogans while confronting attendees.
At the banquet, in keeping with longstanding tradition interrupted during the Donald Trump years Biden was seated on the dais ahead of the evening's comedy roast, this year to be delivered by Colin Jost of "Saturday Night Live."
Biden's every move has been shadowed for months by protesters angry over US support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. He has been met by shouts of "Genocide Joe" and noisy calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Protesters at one point unfurled an enormous, multi-story Palestinian flag from a window on the hotel's top floor, as others congregated on the road below holding placards, chanting and shouting from bullhorns.
More than two dozen Palestinian journalists this week issued an open letter urging their American colleagues to boycott the dinner.
"You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity," said the letter. "It is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured and killed for doing our jobs."
According to the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), at least 97 journalists including 92 Palestinians have been killed since war erupted on October 7 with Hamas's invasion of southern Israel. At least 16 others have been wounded.
Messenger/Mumu
