President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden‘s stroll through Nantucket was briefly interrupted Friday after a small group of protesters shouted “ceasefire” and “Free Palestine” on their way to a late-afternoon lunch.
The first family is staying on the island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, for Thanksgiving weekend and was walking down Broad Street just after 2:30 p.m. as a group of people stood across the street, most of them cheering for the president but a handful protesting the Israel-Hamas war.
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As President Biden strolled down Broad Street, protesters yelled “Free Palestine!” before he entered the Brotherhood of Thieves for a late lunch.
He also spotted a “USS Nantucket” hat on the head of an onlooker and stopped to salute on his way into the restaurant. #Nantucket pic.twitter.com/AleQKu0Rg1
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) November 24, 2023
“Ceasefire! Ceasefire!” one woman can be heard in footage taken of the president and the first lady as they made their way to the Brotherhood of the Thieves restaurant.
Shouts of ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘ceasefire’ from small number of people in crowd as President Biden and First Lady walk through Nantucket pic.twitter.com/HZzL5ccGXi
— Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) November 24, 2023
A separate angle captured shows a majority of the crowd taking video of the first family’s walk, with two women yelling variations of “Free Palestine” and “ceasefire.”
The president’s Friday afternoon walk comes after 24 hostages were released by Hamas into Israeli custody Friday morning. The hostages were the first group to be released as a part of a deal between Israel and Hamas to release the people that were taken by the Gaza-based militant group from the Oct. 7 attack, which resulted in more than 1,200 Israelis killed and more than 200 hostages taken.
Under the most recent terms of the deal, 50 civilian women and children being held hostage will be released in exchange for a four-day ceasefire.
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Ten more hostages are expected to be released for each day of the ceasefire, according to the Israeli government. In return, Israel has agreed to release nearly 150 Palestinian women and teenagers being held for various crimes in Israeli prisons.
“I’ve consistently pressed for a pause in the fighting for two reasons: to accelerate and expand the humanitarian assistance going into Gaza and two, to facilitate the release of hostages,” the president said during a Friday afternoon speech, adding that “it’s only a start, but so far, it’s gone well.”
