Czech journalists covering Asian summit in San Francisco are robbed at gunpoint

Two Czech journalists who were in San Francisco to cover the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit were robbed at gunpoint Sunday, police and the journalists said.

Three armed people got out of their car to demand production equipment from the victims before they drove away, a San Francisco police spokesperson said in a statement. The incident is under investigation.

Television journalist Bohumil Vostal confirmed in an email that he and his cameraman, Milan Nosek, were approached by three armed people Sunday after a day of getting footage of the city. The robbers took equipment worth over $18,000, and he and his team are looking to get their footage back.

Police would not confirm whether Vostal and Nosek were the victims, saying they cannot identify victims or witnesses.

San Francisco is hosting the weeklong APEC summit from Sunday to Friday. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in attendance. The city expects up to 20,000 visitors from over 20 countries for the summit, according to its Department of Emergency Management.

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"We don’t want anyone in San Francisco to be a victim of any crime, whether they are a visitor or a resident," Mayor London Breed's office said in a statement. "SFPD is actively investigating this case, and we know that when an arrest is made, our District Attorney has taken a strong position of aggressively prosecuting crimes like these."

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Breed said in a recent interview that she expected the summit to carry a "lasting impact" on the city's economy and change "the narrative" about San Francisco.

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"We are not trying to hide the problems of San Francisco," she said when she was asked whether she had any concerns about notables entering a "wrong part" of the city. "We hope that people get a chance to experience, of course, great parts of San Francisco but also know that we have our challenges, and they are not as bad as what people are trying to portray them as."

Robberies have increased 13.7% through Sunday this year from the year before, according to the police department. A little more than a third of respondents in a survey the city government conducted this year said they felt safe in the city day and night.