Videos: ‘Shame on you’ chants outside White House as Gaza protests grip US

Amid ongoing pro-Palestine protests across the US, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the entrance of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and raised slogans, confronting celebs and high-profile guests as they arrived.

US President Joe Biden will give an election-year roast on Saturday night at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner against the backdrop of protests against his support for Israel’s war against Hamas.

Joe Biden will speak to a crowd of nearly 3,000 journalists, celebrities and politicians, continuing a tradition dating back to Calvin Coolidge of presidents addressing the dinner at least once during their term.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the entrance of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and raised slogans, confronting celebs and high-profile guests as they arrived.

Demonstrators holding banners chanted about journalist deaths in Gaza outside the Washington Hilton.

They chanted ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘shame on you’ slogans as they rallied across the streets.

Protesters also encouraged journalists to boycott the event, accusing US journalists of undercovering the war in Gaza and misrepresenting it, and shouted down administration officials as they entered.

Memorial to the Palestinian journalists killed by Israel, outside the White House Correspondents Dinner.

For months, Biden’s every move has been shadowed by protesters angry over US support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. He was met by shouts of “Genocide Joe” and noisy calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This time too, at the gala dinner, protesters raised anti-Biden slogans.

Recently, pro-Palestinian protests swept college campuses across the US, stoked by the mass arrest of over 100 people on Columbia University’s campus last week.

Protesters, in addition to a ceasefire, are demanding that schools divest from companies involved with Israel’s military, seeking an end to US military assistance to Israel along with amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.

The White House Correspondents Association was founded in 1914 and has held a dinner nearly every year since 1921 to celebrate the reporters who cover the presidency and raise money for scholarships.

At the century-old event, often referred to as Washington’s “nerd prom,” hundreds of journalists, politicians and celebrities rub elbows in a massive hotel banquet hall. It often features friendly jabs from the president in a closing speech that takes aim at reporters and other guests in the audience. This year it will be hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost.