Bon Appetit! Biden breaks bread with Xi and other Asian leaders after protesters calling for Gaza ceasefire shut down San Francisco Bay Bridge

President Joe Biden toasted Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Asian leaders at a dinner in San Francisco on Thursday evening after protesters closed the city’s Bay Bridge.

“We had a great day,” Biden said. ‘Tonight is about breaking bread together. And we know each other a little better.’

The president hosted the dinner at the Legion of Honor Museum in Golden Gate Park on a rainy evening in San Francisco.

For the event, a tent was set up in the courtyard, where the president’s fellow leaders sat together at one long table.

Protesters shout slogans after shutting down the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge in conjunction with the APEC summit

Biden wrapped up a day of meetings at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, where he spoke to CEOs about the economy, discussed trade with his fellow world leaders and met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. the sideline of the summit.

The president spent the day at the summit site after spending Wednesday just outside the city of San Francisco, where he held a private meeting with President Xi.

But earlier Thursday, at least 50 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested for blocking the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge while calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

The world leaders are staying in a fenced area and are being escorted through the city in columns by police, limiting their contact with the hundreds of protesters who have descended on the city.

Many of the protesters, who line the major motorcade routes shouting as the leaders’ cars race past, have been either for or against China.

But there have also been several protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In one, protesters blocked all lanes of vital westbound I-80 at the Bay Bridge on Thursday, California Highway Patrol said.

A far right lane has since reopened for westbound traffic this afternoon and a second lane is expected to open soon, the newspaper reported KRON.

Highway police officials said 50 people were arrested and at least 15 cars were removed from the bridge.

Officials said at least another 50 protesters could be arrested after reviewing videos of active participants, officials said.

About 21 countries attended the APEC Summit in San Francisco

A protester is seen crying as he is arrested after blocking the Bay Bridge and demanding that the US stop sending military aid to Israel

Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge on Thursday

Officials said 50 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested while blocking the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge

The group is demanding a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas that began on October 7 when the terrorist organization launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,400 Israelis and taking about 240 hostages in the worst attack in the country’s history country.

Photos show protesters unfurling signs reading “no US military aid to Israel” and “Biden ceasefire.”

Some protesters chained themselves to block the roadway and chanted “ceasefire now.” Others lay on the floor with sheets over their bodies that read: ‘stop the genocide.’

The Arab Resource and Organizing Center posted on Twitter that the protesters were there to call on the president.

“A genocide is happening in #Gaza and @POTUS is hosting cocktail parties in #SanFrancisco. Bay Area closed the Bay Bridge to demand #CeasefireNOW. No more $ for genocide,” the group said.

Biden leaves San Francisco on Friday for the East Coast, where he will spend the weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.