Protesters Interrupt Biden Speech to Call for Gaza Ceasefire
Protesters interrupted a speech being delivered by President Joe Biden in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday, January 8, with chants calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking from the pulpit at Mother Emanuel AME Church, the site of a massacre carried out by a white supremacist in 2015, Biden discussed racism, gun-control measures, and what he called the “hate-fueled, dangerous agenda” of Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans.”
The protesters interrupted Biden while he was praising Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina for fighting against hate and falsehoods, and for leading people toward “light” and away from “darkness.”
“If you really care about the lives lost here, you should honor the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine,” a protester tells the president. Other protesters then began chanting “ceasefire now” before being removed from the church by security.
The largely pro-Biden crowd in the church can be heard supplanting protest chants with their own chants of “four more years.”
Reacting to the protesters, Biden said, “I understand their passion, and I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza. I’m using all that I can to do that. But I understand the passion.” Credit: Joe Biden via Storyful
Video Transcript
JOE BIDEN: As many of you know, Jim is a teacher and a student of history. He knows the power of history. He knows the power of truth and the power of lies. He knows what happens when people are allowed to whitewash history, erase history, bury history. He knows what the Bible teaches. We shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free.
But the truth-- the truth is under assault in America. As a consequence, so is our freedom, our democracy, our very country, because without the truth, there is no light. Without light, there's no path from this darkness.
- If you really care about the lives lost here, you should honor the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine.
- Ceasefire now!
- Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now!
JOE BIDEN: That's all right. That's all right--
- Ceasefire now!
JOE BIDEN: That's all right. That's all right.
- Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now!
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- Ceasefire now!
- Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
[CHANTING CONTINUES]
JOE BIDEN: Thank you. Thank you. Look, folks. I understand there-- I understand their passion. And I've been quietly working-- I've been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza, using all that I can to do that.
[APPLAUSE]
JOE BIDEN: But I understand the passion. Look, folks, after the Civil--
- You are an understanding person. You are an understanding person.
JOE BIDEN: Thank you.
- They don't realize that. You're a good man.
JOE BIDEN: Well, Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
