APEC protesters turn out early on Xi Jinping-Joe Biden meeting day

Before a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday morning, protesters blocked several gates to the APEC conference in San Francisco.

At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in San Francisco, there will be CEOs of significant American firms and world leaders, making them attractive targets for protest.

While some are using the conference as a platform to discuss international topics like the Israel-Hamas conflict, opponents of Xi are hoping that hundreds of people would demonstrate against Chinese policy.

At about 8 a.m. local time (1400 GMT), some 150 individuals assembled at a crosswalk outside the security zone of the city’s convention center. The group established a human chain to deter some commuters and delegates from crossing the crossroads to prevent conference participants from doing so.

For comments criticizing APEC and the Biden administration, calling for action on climate change, and expressing sympathy for the Palestinian people, police wore protective helmets. They established a line around fifty feet (15 meters) from a speaker and microphone.

The executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, Pema Doma, stated that hundreds of protestors around the country were anticipated to voice their opposition to Xi’s policies.

“We can state without a shadow of a doubt that this will be the biggest anti-Xi demonstration in the history of Xi Jinping’s reign as Chinese dictator during the bilateral talks hosted here in the United States,” she said.

Protesters lining the motorcade access points into the conference center area supported the spiritual organization Falun Gong, which is outlawed in China.

Not far away, police lines divided dozens of proponents and opponents of Chinese policy, with Chinese flags on one side and a placard labeling the Chinese Communist Party a “virus” on the other.

Chinese supporters also gathered close to the location of Biden and Xi’s meeting, waving both the Chinese and American flags and holding posters featuring the two flags together.

Thousands of police officers patrolled the streets outside the San Francisco conference center, and the days leading up to Biden and Xi’s meeting saw primarily peaceful protests. On Sunday, there was a march that brought together several interest groups.

San Francisco has prepared for a possible conflict with protestors by cleaning up downtown streets before the conference and erecting eight-foot-tall metal mesh barriers to prevent pedestrians from obstructing traffic near the convention center.

Due to the possibility of disturbances in the area surrounding the summit location in downtown San Francisco, which will be closed to foot and vehicle traffic in parts, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated the gathering as a national special security event, assigning the U.S. Secret Service the task of coordinating law enforcement.