US: APEC Summit Sparks Varied Protests Over Environment, Israel-Hamas War in San Francisco

Activists protesting company earnings, environmental abuses, poor working situations and the Israel-Hamas conflict are amongst these planning to march in downtown San Francisco on Sunday, united in their opposition to a world commerce summit that can deliver leaders from almost two dozen international locations, together with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Protests are anticipated all through this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ convention, which might draw greater than 20,000 attendees, together with lots of of worldwide journalists. The No to APEC coalition, made up of greater than 100 grassroots teams, says commerce offers struck at summits similar to APEC exploit staff and their households.

It’s unlikely world leaders will even glimpse the protests given the strict safety zones accessible solely to attendees on the Moscone Center convention corridor and different summit websites. But Suzanne Ali, an organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement, says the U.S. authorities must be held to account for supplying weapons to Israel in its conflict in opposition to Hamas. “Even if they cannot see us, as we’re mobilizing and marching together, they will know that we’re out there,” she stated.

San Francisco has an extended custom of loud and vigorous protests, as do commerce talks. In 1999, tens of hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Seattle throughout a World Trade Organization convention. Protesters succeeded in delaying the beginning of the convention and captured world consideration as overwhelmed police fired tear fuel and plastic bullets, and arrested lots of of individuals. Chile withdrew as APEC host in 2019 resulting from mass protests. Last 12 months, when Thailand hosted the summit in Bangkok, pro-democracy protesters challenged the legitimacy of the Thai prime minister, prompting police to fireplace on the crowd with rubber bullets that injured a number of protesters and a Reuters journalist.

San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott stated he expects a number of protests a day, though it’s unsure what number of will materialize. He warned in opposition to prison habits. “People are welcome to exercise their constitutional rights in San Francisco, but we will not tolerate people committing acts of violence, or property destruction or any other crime,” Scott stated. “We will make arrests when necessary.”

APEC, a regional financial discussion board, was established in 1989 and has 21 member international locations, together with the world’s two largest financial superpowers China and U.S, in addition to Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. An accompanying CEO summit is scheduled for this week, which critics additionally plan to protest Wednesday. Headlining the summit is a extremely anticipated assembly between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who not often — if in any respect — encounters protesters on house soil.

China has heavy safety forward of any occasions inside its borders to make sure no protests happen. It additionally steps up border checks at metropolis limits and at transit factors similar to railway stations and airports. Human rights activists primarily based in China will typically obtain visits or telephone calls from police forward of essential occasions as reminders to not exhibit.

Rory McVeigh, sociology professor and director of the Center for the Study of Social Movements at University of Notre Dame, says politicians use protests to gauge public opinion, and media consideration helps. “Probably a lot of protests just don’t make much difference, but occasionally they do and occasionally they can make a huge difference,” he stated.

The United Vietnamese American Community of Northern California plans to protest Xi and Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines might be rallying for the rights of indigenous Filipinos and protesting the presence of President Bongbong Marcos, the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Protesters are disenchanted that San Francisco, with its wealthy historical past of standing up for the working class, would host CEOs of firms and leaders of nations that they are saying do nice hurt. “It’s silly, from the mayor to the governor to the president, they want to say this is a great idea to have all these people who have been profiting off the intersecting crises of our time,” stated Nik Evasco, a local weather activist. “It’s just sickening.”

(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)