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 China President Xi Jinping and other Asian leaders at a dinner in San Francisco Thursday night after protesters shut down the city's Bay Bridge.

'We had a great day,' Biden said. 'Tonight, it's about breaking bread together. And we know one another a little better.'

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

A tent was raised in the courtyard for the event with the president's fellow leaders crowded at one long table together.

Biden was capping off a day of meetings at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation where he talked about the economy to CEOs, talked trade with his fellow world leaders, and held a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on the sidelines 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 have been arrested for blocking the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge while calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. 

The world leaders are staying in a fenced-off area and escorted by police in motorcades throughout the city, which is limiting their contact with the hundreds of protesters who have descended on the city.

Many of the protesters, who have been lining the major motorcade routes to yell as the leaders' cars race by, have been either in favor or against China.

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

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

This afternoon a far-right lane of westbound traffic has since reopened and a second lane is expect to open soon, reported KRON.

Highway patrol officials said 50 people have been arrested and at least 15 cars removed from the bridge. 

Officials said at least another 50 protesters could be arrested following a review of videos of active participants, officials said. 

The group are demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that started on October 7 when the terrorist organization launched an attack on Israel that killed 1,400 Israelis and seized about 240 hostages in the worst attack in the country's history.

Photos show the demonstrators rolled out signs that say 'no U.S. military aid to Israel' and 'Biden Ceasefire.' 

Some protesters chained themselves together to block off the roadway and were chanting 'ceasefire now.' Others laid on the ground with sheets over their bodies that said, 'stop the genocide.' 

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

'There’s a genocide happening in #Gaza and @POTUS is hosting cocktail parties in #SanFrancisco. Bay Area has shut down the Bay Bridge to demand #CeasefireNOW. No more $ for genocide,' the group said.

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