Biden campaign event interrupted by pro-Palestine demonstrators for 2nd day straight day

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden was met with vocal pro-Palestinian protests for a second day in a row Wednesday as he seeks to ramp up his bid to retain control of the White House.

The demonstrators interrupted Biden as he was addressing the United Auto Workers (UAW), a key labor union that had just endorsed the president ahead of November's election. Their chants were not immediately discernible, and were quickly drowned out by the crowd's raucous exclamations of "UAW!"

In addition to the disruption inside the Marriott Marquis in the nation’s capital, protesters outside the hotel raised Palestinian flags and toted signs calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The protest was the second to roil Biden's campaign events in as many days. Demonstrators are seeking to build pressure on the president to demand an immediate cease-fire to halt Israel's war against Gaza, which has been raging for more than 100 days with no end in sight.

Biden has so far refused as he and senior officials double down on their insistence that a permanent cease-fire would only benefit Hamas. Aid groups, the UN and the majority of countries worldwide have lent support to a cease-fire to remedy Gaza's dire humanitarian crisis.

Israel has carried out a sweeping bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 in which nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed. Israel has also sought to severely restrict the flow of international assistance to the coastal enclave, which has been under a 17-year blockade imposed by Israel.

More than 25,500 Palestinians have been confirmed killed since Israel began its war with thousands more feared dead under the rubble amid widespread devastation. The vast majority of those who have been killed, roughly two-thirds, have been women and children.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced, all of whom are food insecure and the health system is collapsing. Hundreds of thousands are living without shelter and ⁠less than half of the number of aid trucks are entering the territory compared to before the conflict.