Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

Activists interrupted a ceremony in a San Francisco hotel where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was being honored Wednesday evening and demanded that she spearhead impeachment proceedings to remove President Trump from the White House.

They stood on dining chairs, unfurled black tapestries with the phrase, “We can’t wait” and chanted “Which side are you on, Pelosi? Impeach!” inside the grand ballroom of the InterContinental San Francisco hotel where the San Francisco Democratic Party was honoring Pelosi with a lifetime achievement award.

“Impeach Trump now!” shouted activists, who initially had been quietly seated in the audience. One woman, Thais Marques, screamed into the packed room that her “people are being killed by white supremacists” across the country. She demanded action from Pelosi. Another activist said, “We are your constituents.”

Pelosi supporters tried to drown out the activists, chanting, “Let her speak” and waving signs of Pelosi’s face superimposed onto Rosie the Riveter’s likeness. Others opted to say “hush” in deep, hoarse voices, while others screamed, “Sit down!”

Pelosi continued with her remarks and quipped that the energy in the ballroom was “making me feel right at home,” a remark that was met with raucous cheers from the crowd.

San Francisco police officers and security officers ushered the activists out of the ballroom. It’s unclear if they were cited.

The San Francisco Democratic Party said Pelosi’s contributions to repealing the armed forces’ “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and urging for net neutrality protections in California “demonstrates her commitment to fighting for the people.”

Outside the hotel, activists donned matching black T-shirts with a “Time To Impeach” message.

Nicole Regalado, 37, gripped a megaphone on the sidewalk on Howard Street, held a folded piece of white paper with a prepared speech up to her face and yelled into the speaker.

“Speaker Pelosi is right inside about to receive a lifetime achievement award, but her legacy is at a crossroads,” Regalado said. “While Donald Trump empowers white supremacists who are gunning down our communities, locks up migrant children and families in concentration camps, strips away health care protections for transgender people, and cuts millions of women off of accessing health care from Planned Parenthood.”

Regalado, a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines, paused multiple times to wipe away tears welling in her eyes. She joked that she is Trump’s “worst nightmare” as a U.S. citizen with a “right to vote, a big mouth, and a big megaphone.”

Pelosi has largely stopped short of calling for impeachment proceedings against Trump — instead saying that impeachment is divisive to the country, but that “We will go where the facts lead us” — which has prompted many leaders in her own party to publicly urge her to launch an investigation into the president.

As recently as June, Pelosi said that Trump will ultimately “be held accountable for his actions — in the Congress, in the courts and in the court of public opinion.”

Regalado credited Pelosi with championing some of the “most progressive policies in the country,” specifically pointing to the Affordable Care Act, but said “Right now, she’s failing us.”

Just a few feet away from the entrance to the bustling hotel, San Bruno couple Susan Gee, 62, and Daniel Gee, 68, stood in front of a massive white sign with “impeach” in red lettering. The pair said they gathered with other Bay Area residents to “fight for democracy.”

Daniel Gee, who waved an illustration of Trump’s likeness on an orange with the phrase, “No More Waiting, Need to Impeach Now,” said the Mueller report proves Trump colluded with Russian officials to interfere with the 2016 election.

“Basically, Trump is bad news. I hope (Pelosi) hears us and starts the impeachment process,” Daniel Gee said. “He needs to be held accountable for all the bad that he has done.”

Lauren Hernández is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor