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Audible protests blared over President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s welcome to Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at the White House Thursday night, at times drowning out the State Dinner event.
“Free Hong Kong,” “Xi Jinping you’re not welcome” and “freedom for political prisoners” were among the chants shouted.
Protestors gathered across the Northern portico in Lafeyette Park to stand against the communist leader’s visit, where the two leaders are expected to discuss artificial intelligence and intellectual property theft, trade practices and rare-earth minerals.
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China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan, China’s President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump pose on the North Portico steps of the White House ahead of a State Dinner in Washington, DC, on September 24, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
The chants could be heard clearly before the Marine Corps band began playing and remained audible, though less prominently, throughout the performance.
Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong democracy, Chinese pro-democracy and Falun Gong groups gathered in Washington this week to call attention to the Chinese government’s alleged human rights abuses.
President Trump has previously referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as “Pooh Bear,” a nickname rooted in an online meme comparing Xi to Winnie the Pooh. Protesters leaned into the comparison Thursday, dressing as the cartoon bear during a demonstration outside the White House.
Protesters dress as Winnie the Pooh, a political meme and satirical comparison used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping, during a demonstration outside the White House on September 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The dinner had 134 guests, including the two leaders and prominent tech CEOs such as Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Lisa Su of AMD, Tim Cook of Apple, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai of Google and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
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Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez arrive at the White House for President Trump’s state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Fox News Digital)
Many demonstrators have called for the release of political prisoners, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has called for the release of Dr. Gulshan Abbas.
Abbas is a retired Uyghur doctor, who disappeared from her home in China on Sept. 10, 2018. Chinese officials later sentenced her to 20 years in prison on terrorism-related charges that her family calls fabricated.
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Protestors chant during a rally at Franklin Park on September 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. Various organizations gathered and spoke out as President Donald Trump hosts Chinese Chinese President Xi Jinping for a three-day state visit (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House to see if her release, or others, are on the negotiating table during this visit.
Famous American tenor Christopher Macchio, who was featured at the Republican National Convention in Dallas a few weeks ago, will entertain for the evening, along with military musicians from the Army and the Marine Corps.
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After the dinner, both presidents are expected to retire for the evening ahead of their visit to the National Archives Friday.