Pro-Palestine protester interrupts US President's speech

A pro-Palestine protester interrupted US President Joe Biden’s speech on Sunday at the historic Gila River Indian Community in Phoenix, Arizona. Biden apologised for the role of US governments in marginalising and assimilating indigenous Native American children for nearly 150 years.

“What about the people in Gaza?” shouted a pro-Palestine attendee, interrupting Biden’s speech. “How can you apologise for genocide while genocide is taking place in Palestine? Free Palestine.”

Biden responded to the protester by saying, “There’s a lot of innocent people being killed. There’s a lot of innocent people being killed and it has to stop.”

Biden officially apologised on 25 October for the role of hundreds of boarding schools in the US that sought to marginalise Native American children and erase their languages and cultures for nearly 150 years.

This is the first time that a US president has apologised for the treatment of tens of thousands of indigenous children who were separated from their families and forced to attend boarding schools across the country.

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