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Protesters gather at Rossotti Field on May 10, 2024. Photo by Eleanor Raab. 
Protesters hold up banners and signs at Rossotti Field on May 10, 2024. Photo by Eleanor Raab. 
A counter-protester stands along Alpine Road while a Santa Clara County Sheriff looks on on May 10, 2024. Photo by Eleanor Raab. 
President Joe Biden’s motorcade passes through Portola Valley on Alpine Road on May 10, 2024. Photo by Eleanor Raab.
President Joe Biden’s trip to the Bay Area to attend fundraisers with wealthy donors for his reelection campaign on Friday, May 10, spurred pro-Palestinian protests in Portola Valley and Palo Alto.
A group of about 50 protesters met in advance of Biden’s arrival at a fundraiser held at the Portola Valley home of Vinod Khosla, a tech entrepreneur. Khosla has given approximately $1.4 million to Democratic campaigns and organizations over the course of this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The protesters gathered at Rossotti Field on Alpine Road at 11 a.m. to march to the intersection of Alpine Road and Los Trancos Road. The fundraiser will be held on Los Trancos Road.
“While Israel imposes a famine on top of its bombing of Gaza, Bay Area billionaires are having a party,” said a post announcing the protest from @BayResistance on Instagram. “Come tell them what you think!”
“The idea is to let them know that this is not OK, to be a visible signal that this is not OK,” said Michelle, an organizer of the protest.
The protest remained peaceful, with attendees holding up signs and playing music as they walked along Alpine Road.
“We are out here because we are protesting Biden who is actively participating in and attending multiple fundraisers in the area,” said another attendee named Nadine, who identified herself as Palestinian. “This is an individual who is actively aiding and abetting a genocide.”
Alpine Road was closed to traffic as Biden’s motorcade drove through the town.
Around 80 people were in attendance at the Portola Valley fundraising event, with several people wearing pins with United States and Israel flags or holding small Israel flags, according to White House press pool reporters.
Later in the day at 1 p.m., more than 50 people gathered at the corner of El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto in protest.
People dressed in keffiyehs and shirts reading “Not in our name, Jews say ceasefire now,” gathered at the corner that advocacy group Vigil4Gaza meets every Sunday.
As cars honked in support, young children and adults alike carried signs reading “Babies are not collateral damage” and “Prez Biden, use tax $ for peace.”
The group marched toward the corner of Addison Avenue and Webster Street, where President Biden was attending a re-election fundraiser in Palo Alto.
At the corner of Addison Avenue and Middlefield Road, the march came to a stop, when the streets were barricaded by police — some wearing riot gear. They were met with counter protestors on the other side of barricades, holding American and Israeli flags and signs reading “Thank you, Joe.”
“He [Biden] is green-lighting genocide,” said Michelle Higgins. “We’re sending a message that fundraising millions of dollars during this time is not okay.”
Palo Alto resident Jeanine Savello tried to get a glimpse of the president from the cordoned off intersection of Waverley and Addison streets on Friday afternoon. She had a small child in a stroller with her.
“He’s the president and I’m glad to see him in town, no matter what you think of him. It’s one of the great things about living here,” she said, adding that she also tried to get a glimpse of then-President George W. Bush when he visited the area.
Addison Elementary, Hays Elementary and Green Middle School closed around noon in anticipation of the president’s arrival in the neighborhood. The last-minute closure caused stress for some parents, as the schools only received notice about the presidential event in recent days.
Biden then attended a reception at the Palo Alto home of former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and her husband DCVC Co-founder Zack Bogue.
At the fundraiser, he was introduced by Mayer and made short remarks to a small crowd of around 30 people, including Mayer and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, who he praised as women leaders.
“It’s important that people have someone to look to,” Biden said, looking toward them, “You could be governor and you could be president. I’m not joking. I’m being deadly earnest. A lot’s changing.”
Biden focused his remarks on the momentum of his campaign, which he says is in his favor with 1.6 million people having donated, 97% in amounts under $200.
He said his campaign has opened 150 offices in battleground states “and Trump has opened zero offices. And it’s not just because he’s on trial,” Biden said.
Biden, who was in San Francisco in the Fairmont Hotel earlier in the day, landed in a field at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory around 12:30 p.m.
Biden arrived in the Bay Area Thursday evening, touching down at Mountain View’s Moffett Field Air Base around 8 p.m. He left for Seattle Friday afternoon.
This was the same article as on KQED website. Nice cut and paste. No PA Weekly reporter on this beat? So much for a free press.
News agencies are continually skeletonized and internet pay walls don’t allude to anything “free” about the press. Now, AI is making inroads, so…is “free AI” the future?
could not find any such KQED article you refer to. a reporter was on the scene in Palo Alto and did a fine job
Traffic chaos, was it the President or the Protestors who caused the mess?
Re the same article on the KQED website, actually it wasn’t such “a nice cut and paste” since they never tested to see if the commands to scroll through the 6 Palo Alto photos via the “1/6” indicator work — which they don’t!
So much for usability.
try again?
Thanks for prodding me. When I didn’t see the arrows in Firefox I switched to Chrome where they were more obvious. Went back to Firefox, enlarged the page and found the arrows which had faded out against the background.
Work for me, saw all 6 photos. User error?
These protesters came near my home on Lincoln in Palo Alto. I listened to them banging drums and use a loudspeaker to chant. They are certainly within their free speech rights, but I was disappointed to hear things like “From the river to the sea” and “Intifada!” and calling the president “Genocide Joe”. I think they are incredibly naive and downright foolish. I had my suspicions confirmed when I called out to one young man that all he was doing was to help Trump get reelected. His response? “Why would that be so bad?” SMH.
It seems to me, the issue should be not about this press coverage, but about President Biden raising funds to represent this country as a democracy and defeat Trump. There is enough excess on either side to protest actions such as crashing airliners into NYC buildings or using a well-equipped army to invade civilian areas and kill innocent civilians. One can add climate issues, political corruption, and just plain rudeness to say nothing of too-long red ties. I think it better to focus on who we need to govern this country and do our best to support that person.
Since many voters don’t want democracy, just “my way or the highway”, why shouldn’t press coverage be more realistic?
@Ralph Dempsey, agreed. Apologies. I had to switch browsers to see the arrows to page through the six photos. And I was frustrated with the ongoing sign-on problems.
You raise some interesting issues, all worth discussing.
I agree with Ray, above. The republican party is trying to elect someone who is standing trial for such heinous crimes I don’t need to cite them here. Just look at any mainstream news agency to understand the magnitude of rhetoric the orange toddler still promotes even after being held accountable for discussing the case in front of the media. He is on a rampge. Is that who we really want, as a leader, with the horrible death and destruction occurring in the middle east? That subject has divided our nation, and I think it could spark another Civil War. Which, by the way, was completely due to racism. People had to choose a side in the 1800’s and apparently we haven’t learned our lesson from that. Faraway conflicts are our specialty. WWI, WWII, Viet Nam — we saved everybody, right? We did because we forced our men to sign up for the draft. I don’t think we will EVER be able to mount another draft to put people in peril simply because they are over 18. The signs are there in the post office. Any male over 18 has to sign up for the draft. “Selective service” cards enable the government, should they decide to reinstate the draft, to uproot adult men to go fight for somebody else’s cause. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN IN 2024 or EVER here in the US. So we’re giving money by bending over at the gas pump to “pitch in”. I knew when the Ukraine dustup (a country that is being ‘goverened’ by a STAND UP COMEDIAN) became our problem this would ignite the entire globe except for North America. If you look at the land mass of Russia and China they could easily breach our border and we would be helpless. We’ve already sold out to China. We don’t have a military that’s strong enough to combat them should they ever bring this problem to our shores. I think Biden should be doing less campaigning and more WORK with our allies and their enemies, to create a lasting peace. We’re barely into a new century and have learned nothing from wars dating back to before civilization existed. Apes are smarter than humans. But humans, with our opposable thumbs, have used it to create genocide right here were we live. This land belongs to indigenous people who are continuously ignored as the first people who have rights that are greater than interlopers. No justice here. A general attitude of superiority does NOT make us superior.