Former President Joe Biden was escorted to a waiting vehicle Tuesday as pro-Palestinian protesters threw milk and other objects at him and former first lady Jill Biden outside Trinity College Dublin, Irish media reported.
Gardaí arrested two people at the Dublin university, where the Bidens had attended a ceremony honoring their son, Hunter Biden, who received the College Historical Society’s Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution for Public Discourse. Irish outlet RTÉ reported that members of the crowd moved toward the vehicles and hurled objects as the family departed through the college’s front square.
Demonstrators assembled to protest the former president’s record on Gaza. They shouted at the 83-year-old Democrat both as he arrived and as he left the college.
“Blood on your hands,” protesters shouted, according to TMZ. Others yelled, “Shame on you” and “Genocide Joe.”
The Journal, an Irish news outlet, reported that about six gardaí moved against two protesters, leaving both on the ground. Video from the scene appeared to show one man being struck with a baton while officers restrained him.
Harper Alderson, editor of Trinity’s University Times, told RTÉ’s Drivetime that gardaí used pepper spray on two protesters.
“The protest grew very large as the cars were moving through the front square of the college,” she said.
Inside the Examination Hall, Hunter Biden, the pardoned former president’s son who launched a meme cryptocurrency in September built around the laptop scandal, used his acceptance speech to address the war.
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“All of the people arguing whether to call it genocide. Let’s call it mass murder,” Hunter Biden said, describing what is happening in Gaza as “absolutely and completely wrong.”
He also defended his father’s actions during the conflict.
“I know this man, and I know he attempted more than anyone to curtail and stop it,” the younger Biden said.
Seated in the front row, his father rose with the audience and led a standing ovation when the speech concluded.
Joe Biden pardoned his son in December 2024, weeks before leaving the White House to President Donald Trump. The pardon erased three felony gun convictions in Delaware and a guilty plea to federal tax charges in California.
The former president’s memoir, Promise Me, America, is scheduled for release Nov. 17. Biden has said he will limit promotion of the book while receiving treatment for prostate cancer. His son confirmed in August that the disease had spread further throughout his body.
The Journal described the former president as frail and slow-moving as he waved to a small group of students.
