Apec summit: clashing protesters cheer for Beijing or call for justice in China as leaders gather in San Francisco

City famous for 1960s anti-war movements becomes stage for hundreds of pro-China demonstrators and some critics calling for human rights action

Fight erupts between protest groups using flags and signs as battering rams before police break it up

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Hundreds of protesters supporting China and a small number of critics of Beijing’s policies yelled competing slogans, drowned each other out with blaring speakers and on at least one occasion brawled with fists and flags in front of the hotel where President Xi Jinping is staying during this week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. Photo: Mark Magnier

Mark Magnierin San FranciscoandIgor Patrickin San Francisco

Published: 4:00pm, 15 Nov 2023Updated: 1:11am, 16 Nov 2023

San Francisco, a city famous for protests dating back to the anti-war movements of the 1960s, greeted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit with a resounding show of democracy this week, not least among the Chinese population.

The area around the Moscone Centre where delegations from 21 economies are meeting was walled off by tall black fences. On some streets local police, California Highway Patrol, Secret Service and for-hire security guards outnumbered pedestrians.

Supporters cheer as the motorcade of China’s President Xi Jinping passes as he arrives to his hotel near the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit headquarters on November 14. Photo: AFP

“I haven’t seen it like this since Haight-Ashbury days,” said Curtiss Hayden, a “welcome ambassador” in an orange jacket, referring to a neighbourhood known for its long-standing hippy activism, standing near a loud demonstration.

A few steps away, near the crossroads of Third and Mission streets, a couple of hundred pro-China demonstrators gathered on a terraced fountain waving Chinese flags. Speakers with blown woofers belonging to the pro-China group blared out recordings of the Chinese national anthem and cries of “jia you” or “go for it” that could be heard blocks away.

“It’s very loud,” said a mystified bystander. “Is that really them or a recording?” Nearby, protester jackets and banners identified participants as members of the China Anti-Cult World Alliance and the New York Shandong Association.

A handful of critics, meanwhile, held signs aloft calling for human rights, justice and property rights in China. At one point a critic held out a sign and a pro-China demonstrator blocked it with a huge Chinese flag, leading to a fight involving nearly a dozen people using flags and signs as battering rams before police broke it up.