Anti-Israel protesters demanding a cease-fire at Gaza interrupted a speech Monday by President Biden intended to be a campaign discourse on the evils of white supremacy at the site of one of America’s worst racially motivated attacks in recent memory.

Mr. Biden was in the middle of an address at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina, the nation’s oldest AME church and the scene where racist Dylann Roof murdered nine parishioners in 2015, when the ruckus began.

Mr. Biden, after criticizing his presumed opponent in the presidential election later this year, Donald Trump, for promoting falsehoods about the 2020 election, remarked that “Without the truth there is no light. Without the light there is no path from this darkness,” when a young woman in the audience stood up and began shouting at the president.

“If you really care about the lives lost here then you should honor the lives lost and call for a cease-fire in Palestine,” the young woman screamed. Soon, a handful of others around her joined in, shouting “cease-fire now” repeatedly until they were escorted from the pews by ushers.

As they were being expelled, a good portion of those in the audience began shouting “four more years” in an effort to drown out the shouting of the protesters as they exited the building. Mr. Biden, who appeared to be caught off guard by the demonstration, stopped his speech initially but proceeded afterward. 

“I understand their passion,” the president told the audience after the protesters had been removed. “I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza. I’m using all that I can to do that.”

The activists in Charleston were not the only pro-Hamas demonstrators creating havoc Monday. Earlier in the day, at New York City, anti-Israel activists blocked the entrance to the Holland Tunnel in lower Manhattan and three critical bridges in the city in the middle of the morning rush hour.

At around 9:30 am Monday, the protesters stopped traffic going into the Holland Tunnel while other groups waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs demanding that Israel “End the occupation” targeted the Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg bridges. The incident snarled traffic across New York City until well after 11 a.m.

Police say about 120 protesters were arrested at the Holland Tunnel and an unknown number of other protesters at the bridges. Such demonstrations have become a fixture of life in New York since the war at Gaza started on October 8, with regular marches through Manhattan and even attempts to disrupt air travel at John F. Kennedy airport at the end of the holiday period.

Local politicians in New York and their constituents have become increasingly angered by the demonstrations. In a statement released Monday morning following the demonstrations, city councilman Robert Holden echoed the sentiments of many when he demanded a crackdown by law enforcement on the unauthorized demonstrations.

“These reports of anarchists shutting down tunnels and bridges are totally unacceptable,” Mr. Holden said. “We must not allow this terrorism to continue. Swift and decisive action is needed. Arrest and prosecute them NOW!”