(Manassas) US President Joe Biden, who intends to use the subject of abortion rights against Donald Trump, saw one of his first major campaign speeches of the year interrupted several times on Tuesday by pro-demonstrators. Palestinians.
“This will last a while. They have everything planned,” reacted the 81-year-old Democrat, who had to stop speaking several times.
This is not the first time that Joe Biden, campaigning for his re-election in November, has been questioned in public about the ongoing conflict in Gaza, a very politically sensitive subject, but never before has one of his speeches n had been interrupted so frequently.
His supporters in the audience chanted “Four more years!” » or “Come on Joe!” » in order to drown out the voices of the demonstrators, who shouted slogans of solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza, a territory besieged by Israel and in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis.
In total, around ten people called out to Joe Biden, who firmly supports Israel, shouting, for example, “Get the genocidal Joe out!” “.
PHOTO EVELYN HOCKSTEIN, REUTERS
US President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
The American president wanted to use his speech, in Manassas, Virginia, near Washington, to attack his rival Donald Trump, former president and favorite in the Republican primary, on the issue of abortion.
He accused the 77-year-old tycoon and his supporters of wanting “at all costs” to further restrict access to voluntary terminations of pregnancy (abortions).
“Donald Trump is the reason why [les femmes américaines] were deprived of a fundamental right,” said the American president.
He was referring to a judgment in June 2022 of the Supreme Court, to which his predecessor gave a very conservative orientation.
The institution put an end to the constitutional right to abortion, protected since 1973 by famous case law Roe v. Wadeand around twenty American states subsequently either banned or severely restricted abortions.
Democrats hope that defending the right to abortion, supported according to polls by a majority of Americans, will help Joe Biden get re-elected.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas, conversely, could cost it votes among progressive voters, young people and Americans of Arab origin.
The latter criticize Joe Biden for lacking compassion for the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza.