The president was only minutes into a speech focusing on the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump when he was confronted by demonstrators who had been sitting in the middle of his chosen venue:the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston,where a white supremacist killed nine people in 2015.
“The truth is under assault in America,” Biden said. “As a consequence,so is our freedom,our democracy,our very country because without truth,there’s no light,and without light,there is no path from this darkness.”
Several protesters immediately stood up as one of them yelled:“If you really care about the lives lost here,you should honour the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Gaza!”
This was followed by chants of “Ceasefire Now! Ceasefire Now!” as security scrambled to get the demonstrators out of the venue.
In a bid to drown out the protests,the rest of the church began chanting:“Four more years! Four more years!” in support of the president.
Biden stayed calm during the commotion,before telling the audience:“Look folks,I understand the passion,and I’ve been quietly working with theIsraeli government to get them to reduce and significantly getout of Gaza. I’m using all that I can to do that.”