What happened as Biden left Hunter’s Dublin award ceremony

MRMaya Reyes · Progressive · Nov 11 at 4:55 AM

A ceremony honoring Hunter Biden at Trinity College Dublin became a confrontation over his father’s record on Gaza. The Biden Dublin protest took place on November 10, 2026, as former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden attended the event, where Hunter received an honor from the College Historical Society for his contribution to public discourse. As the family left, protesters shouted accusations and threw objects toward the departing party. Irish police arrested two people. The reports agree on the outline, but differ in some details of the scene and what was thrown.

The protest grew from anger at Joe Biden’s backing of Israel during the war in Gaza. Demonstrators chanted “Genocide Joe,” “Shame on you” and words accusing him of bearing responsibility for bloodshed. Some carried Palestinian flags. Biden’s administration backed Israel after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, while also urging the Israeli government to address its military campaign and conditions for civilians. Critics say U.S. support enabled the killing and displacement of civilians. The reports do not resolve that argument; they show how the policy continues to follow Biden beyond the White House.

Accounts describe objects thrown as the vehicles carrying the Bidens moved through the college’s front square. Several reports identify milk or a milk-like substance, and video descriptions say an object was blocked near Biden by a security umbrella. Details vary: some accounts say the objects struck officers, while others describe an object coming close to the former president or his motorcade. Gardaí, Ireland’s national police, moved to control the crowd and arrested two people. Harper Alderson, who edits Trinity’s University Times, said on RTÉ that officers used pepper spray on two protesters; that account is attributed to her, not independently established in the supplied reports. Footage descriptions also show officers struggling with protesters, but the reports do not provide a full account of every arrest or the sequence of events.

The award recognized Hunter Biden’s advocacy on American politics and media, along with his work related to addiction and recovery. Founded in 1770, the society has previously honored people such as former Irish leader Michael D. Higgins, singer Patti Smith, activist Desmond Tutu and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Hunter expressed gratitude to the society and said returning to Ireland with his family mattered to him. During his acceptance speech, he condemned the situation in Gaza as mass murder and said he believed his father had tried to restrain it. Joe Biden, seated in the front row, stood and applauded.

That defense lands amid a difficult record for the former president. Biden backed Israel’s campaign while facing sustained opposition from progressive Democrats, human-rights advocates and activists who argued that continued U.S. military assistance helped enable harm to Palestinians. His administration’s broader foreign policy emphasized alliances and U.S. leadership, as its own stated approach makes clear (the administration’s foreign-policy record). The presidency ended on January 20, 2025, after Biden served from 2021; he entered office amid a pandemic, economic crisis and deep political polarization (the chronology and context of Biden’s presidency). Those facts provide context, not a verdict on the policy. The protest’s central dispute is whether backing Israel while applying pressure to its government was restraint or complicity.

The Dublin visit also carried family and political history. Hunter was convicted in 2024 of federal gun offenses and faced federal tax charges; Joe Biden later pardoned him in December 2024, despite previously saying he would not. The pardon extended to federal crimes Hunter had committed or could have committed within a specified period, according to the reports. That decision remains part of the public context whenever the younger Biden appears at a prominent event. Joe Biden also met Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who said they discussed Biden’s roots in Ireland, the Northern Ireland peace process and international matters. The visit was a family occasion, a diplomatic stop and, outside the ceremony, a flashpoint over Gaza.

Reports also describe Biden as frail and slow-moving, and note that his prostate cancer has spread. He has said his treatment will limit promotion of his forthcoming memoir, due November 17, 2026. Those details may shape what comes next for the former president, but the material does not establish any further plans for the Dublin arrests or for the protesters. The event was a surprise appearance, and no response from Biden’s office is included in the reports. For additional context on the visit, coverage of Biden’s appearance in Ireland places the ceremony alongside his illness; a separate account of activists confronting a public figure offers another example of how protest can collide with security and public access (an earlier confrontation).

For my part, the clearest thing here is the gap between a formal award ceremony and the anger waiting outside it. A thrown object is not an argument, and a chant is not a full accounting of policy; the substance of the Gaza dispute still deserves one. The next answers should come from verified details about the arrests and a serious reckoning with what U.S. support meant on the ground—not from turning a chaotic exit into a substitute for that debate.

Update, November 11, 2026: Police later said three men had been arrested in connection with a public-order incident. One, in his 50s, was charged and is due in court; the other two were released without charge. A Trinity College spokesperson said the protest intensified as the Bidens departed, but the family left without incident and the gathering soon dispersed. Hunter spoke about addiction, family life and public scrutiny, saying his own scars had taught him that people were living in an age of bullies. Joe Biden said cancer treatment sometimes slowed him, though his doctors were encouraged by his response to radiation and hormone therapy.

Update, November 11, 2026: Some demonstrators had gathered for anti-war speeches before learning Biden would visit, according to one account. His daughter Ashley also joined the Bidens’ meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. Biden’s cancer was diagnosed in May 2025 and had spread to his bones; he completed radiation that October. In his first televised interview since leaving office, he said he would have dropped out of the 2024 race had he known about the cancer, and rejected the suggestion that he concealed the diagnosis, saying he disclosed it after learning the facts.