Protesters Hound Biden While Attending Mass
A persistent and vocal group of about 45 Free Palestine protesters pursued the President to his normally peaceful mass at Saint Edmond’s Catholic Church in downtown Rehoboth this past Saturday.
Reverend Cathy Rion Starr, a Unitarian Universalist minister and protester representative, said they were a group of Delawareans here to protest “because Biden should have no peace at the beach until Gazans have peace at their beach and he has blood on his hands. He could stop this war right now. He could stop this genocide right now. 36,000 is too many!”
The group included plenty of children, and mothers with strollers, which was probably the strategy.
De Actions 4 Palestine had promoted the event on its Instagram page. About half of the group arrived at the church before the President. They were already chanting when his motorcade arrived shortly after 4 p.m.
More protesters came on foot and bike after they roamed through parts of North Shores, Henlopen Acres and Rehoboth. Officials allowed the protesters to stand across from the church in front of the American Legion where they chanted for the entire service, and then some.
Police had to step in when counter-protesters began chanting and yelling and nearly getting into fights with the Free Palestine group. They also had to keep the protesters at bay as they kept trying to push the line toward the end of the service as Biden was about to depart.
One Jewish woman who identified herself only as “Sue,” said she was heartbroken… The protesters “told me 50 people died and they named people and I said, yes, and I’ve lost people too.”
“I said, that’s all I wanted to say because it’s about humanity and what we’ve lost and I’m just sorry she shook her head. And then she said it was more about the people who are making decisions. And I said, that’s, yeah, we don’t have control over that, but we can be kind to each other. And I told her my name and she told me her name and I said, just be safe. It was good. I didn’t change anything, but it was good,” she added.
