Washington:
Security was tight Saturday as the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner got underway, with President Joe Biden delivering a traditionally light-hearted speech amid protests and calls for a boycott over the Gaza conflict.
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 as they confronted attendees.
At the banquet, in keeping with a longstanding tradition — interrupted during the Donald Trump years — Biden sat on stage prior to the evening's comedy roast, this year hosted by Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live.”
Biden's every move has been overshadowed for months by protesters angry about US support for Israel's military offensive in Gaza. He was met with cries of “Genocide Joe” and vociferous calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Protesters at one point unfurled a huge multi-story Palestinian flag from a top-floor window of the hotel, while others gathered on the road below holding banners, chanting and shouting from megaphones.
More than twenty Palestinian journalists this week issued an open letter calling on their American colleagues to boycott the dinner.
“You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity,” the letter said. “It is unacceptable to remain silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured and killed for doing our work.”
At least 97 journalists – including 92 Palestinians – have been killed since the war broke out on October 7 with Hamas's invasion of southern Israel, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). At least 16 others have been injured.
The group Code Pink, part of an anti-war coalition, said it planned to “shut down” the dinner to protest “the Biden administration's complicity in the Israeli army's targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists.” .
It said his action would be “nonviolent” but gave no details.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department told AFP it was “prepared to facilitate any safe and peaceful demonstration” but that guests would also be allowed access to the event.
The gala dinner and a series of community events are taking place as the protest movement in Gaza has spread to universities across the country, and as police crackdowns on some campuses have led to hundreds of arrests.
Comedian Jost, a longtime writer and actor on NBC's “Saturday Night Live,” sat next to Biden on stage as the dinner began. His wife, actress Scarlett Johansson, was also in attendance.
The 81-year-old Biden will follow Jost's roast with his own speech, which will surely include some self-mockery, some criticism of the press and, no doubt, some sharp elbow jabs at Trump, his presumptive opponent in November's presidential election.
The annual dinner has been organized since 1920 by the influential White House Correspondents' Association, which honors top reporters and awards journalism fellowships.
Last year 2,600 people attended.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)