Get Ready: Road Closures, Protests Expected For Obama Visit

PHOTO: President Barack Obama waves to crowds gathered at Palm Springs International Airport as he departs for Washington, D. C. on Feb. 16, 2015. CREDIT: Renee Schiavone.

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Road closures, hordes of international media and an estimated 1,000 protesters are expected to disrupt normal life in the Coachella Valley beginning Friday, as President Barack Obama returns to the area to host a summit of Asian leaders at Sunnylands resort in Rancho Mirage.

Obama is scheduled to arrive at Palm Springs International Airport aboard Air Force One sometime Friday, following events throughout California on Thursday, including an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’’

White House officials said the president will “spend the night’’ in the Coachella Valley on Friday, but have made no specific mention of his plans for Saturday and Sunday preceding the two-day summit.

Obama will be joined by Secretary of State John Kerry at Sunnylands for the Feb. 15-16 gathering of leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The summit is aimed at strengthening the new U.S.-ASEAN strategic partnership, forged last November during a presidential trip to Malaysia.

“This unprecedented gathering -- the first hosted by the United States with the ASEAN leaders -- builds on the deeper partnership that the United States has forged with ASEAN since 2009 and will further advance the Administration’s rebalance to Asia and the Pacific,’’ according to a White House statement.

A large number of protesters are expected to voice opposition to everything from Obama’s deportation policies to the poor human rights records of some of the member nations, like Cambodia and Vietnam.

Specific road closure plans are expected to be announced by local law enforcement agencies later in the week.

--City News Service