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San Francisco mocked in China for moving homeless away from Apec summit venue
- Homelessness in the city has been a target for US right-wing media and Chinese commentators have joined in the criticism
- Encampments were cleared from around the Moscone Centre where world leaders, including Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, meet this week
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Eduardo Jaramilloin San Francisco
More world leaders will visit San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this week than at any time since 1945 – when 50 dignitaries met to found the United Nations – and the famed city by the bay is trying to put its best foot forward.
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This week’s historic meeting of leaders from around the Asia-Pacific region has prompted a beautification campaign, with San Francisco scrubbing streets and cleaning up the city.
San Francisco has also removed homeless residents from encampments near the summit and called in thousands of law enforcement officers to police the area around the Moscone Centre where world leaders – including US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping – will meet.
More than 1,000 members of the California Highway Patrol are lining the streets of San Francisco’s downtown area and metal barricades stretch for several blocks to help with pedestrian management.
According to official figures, San Francisco’s homeless population was around 7,750 people in 2022, with 57 per cent living outside officially sanctioned shelters.
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Drugs also plague the area. San Francisco’s UN Plaza – about 1.6km (1 mile) from the Moscone Centre – saw more reported overdoses each year from 2018 to 2022 than any other block in the city.
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