Three men have been arrested after protesters pelted objects at former President Joe Biden outside a university in Dublin, police in Ireland said Wednesday.
Videos showed protesters, some waving Palestinian flags, chanting “blood on your hands” and scuffling with police officers outside Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday, as he attended a ceremony honoring his son, Hunter, alongside former first lady Jill Biden. White liquid, believed to be milk, could also be seen flying through the air towards the group.
Hunter was being honored by its traditional Hist debating society, which dates back to 1770. Previous recipients of the Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse include Irish musician Bob Geldof, South African bishop Desmond Tutu, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.
During his acceptance speech in the university’s Exam Hall, Hunter discussed his addictions, family life and being in the public eye. “We are living in an age of bullies,” he said, adding that he had learned this from “my own scars.”
Shortly after the ceremony a “protest took place in Trinity’s Front Square,” Catherine O’Mahony, a spokesperson for the college said in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday.
She said “the protest escalated while the Bidens were leaving,” and Irish police, known as the Gardaí, arrived at the scene. “The Biden family left without incident. The protest dispersed soon after,” she added.
Police said in a statement Wednesday that three adult males were arrested “in relation to a public order incident” at Trinity College Dublin. One man in his 50s “has since been charged and is due to appear before Court. The two other males have been released without charge.” They did not say what the man had been charged with.
Ireland has long had a historical solidarity with the Palestinian cause, with pro-Palestinian flags, murals and graffiti a common sight around the country.
Many in the country compare the current situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank with Ireland’s experience of British colonial rule and struggle for self-determination. Ireland was also the recent venue for American rapper Macklemore’s sold-out “Free Palestine Tour,” which opened in Dublin last month.
The Bidens, who have Irish heritage, also met with Ireland’s Taoiseach, or prime minister, Micheál Martin.
“We reflected on his strong Irish roots and previous visits, appreciating his lifelong support for Ireland,” Martin said in a post on X, of his meeting with Biden.
During a 2023 visit to the country while he was president, Biden told the Irish parliament in an emotional address that he was “home.”
Biden’s great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan left the Irish county of Louth for the United States in 1849, and he also has relatives from another side of his family in County Mayo, on Ireland’s west coast.
Earlier this week, Biden, 83, signaled he was scaling back public tours to promote his upcoming memoir “Promise Me, America,” as he continues his treatment for cancer.
“Some days are better than others,” Biden wrote Sunday in a lengthy post on X. “It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down.”
Biden announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer months after he left office in January 2025 and has since undertaken courses of radiation therapy and hormone treatment.
He said his doctors were “encouraged by how I’ve responded to treatment” and thanked the public for their prayers and well-wishes.
