Security is reinforced on Saturday in Washington for the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner where American President Joe Biden must comply with the exercise of the traditional light-hearted speech. This despite a demonstration and a call for a boycott.
Many distinguished guests, journalists and celebrities, arrived at the Hilton hotel in the federal capital at a time when around a hundred demonstrators were gathered near the entrance. Some chanted slogans such as ‘Shame on you’ or verbally attacked participants at the event.
Protesters hung a Palestinian flag several meters long from a window on the top floor of the hotel. Other protesters are gathered below, at road level, holding signs or megaphones.
Inside, Joe Biden took his place on the dais, displaying a constant smile. On Saturday he must comply with the tradition, interrupted during the mandate of his predecessor Donald Trump, which wants the American president to listen, with a smile, to a comedian tearing him down. Several Palestinian journalists in an open letter called on their American colleagues to boycott this very popular event, the culmination of an entire weekend of social receptions.
‘You have a special responsibility to speak the truth to the powerful and uphold journalistic integrity. It is unacceptable to remain silent, out of fear or for career reasons, when journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured, and killed because they do their job,’ wrote these twenty Palestinian journalists.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an association based in New York, at least 97 journalists have been killed since the start of the war on October 7 between Israel and Hamas, including 92 Palestinians. At least 16 others were injured.
Demonstration
One of the groups organizing the demonstration in front of the Hilton hotel, Code Pink, said it wanted to ‘stop’ the dinner to protest against ‘the complicity of the Biden government in the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli army’, specifying that this action would be ‘non-violent’.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department told AFP it was ‘prepared to allow any safe and peaceful demonstration’ as well as guest access to the event. For months now, every time the American president travels, demonstrators gather to protest against the support for Israel of the man they call ‘Genocidal Joe’, and to demand an end to hostilities in Gaza.
The gala dinner is being held as the protest movement against the war in Gaza becomes widespread on American campuses, with hundreds of arrests and the deployment of riot police. This year, it’s Colin Jost, from the show ‘Saturday Night Live’, who will be responsible for humorously teasing the American president, in front of an audience in tuxedos and long dresses. He took his place on the platform next to the leader. His wife, actress Scarlett Johansson, is also present.
Joe Biden, as is customary, will also deliver a speech peppered with more or less successful jokes, alternating between self-deprecation and political nonsense. The 81-year-old Democrat should not hesitate to attack his Republican rival in the November presidential election, Donald Trump.
The dinner is hosted by the White House Correspondents Association. It also gives rise to an awards ceremony and the distribution of scholarships to journalism students. Last year, 2,600 guests attended the event.
/ATS
