Police presence at closed US consulate in Chengdu

Police have closed off a two to three-block area around a United States consulate in China, cutting off virtually any view of the property. Vehicles could be seen moving in the distance on Sunday behind multiple police lines. China ordered the closing of the consulate in Chengdu on Friday in retaliation for a US order to close the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas.

The tit-for-tat closings marked a significant escalation in the tensions between the two countries over a range of issues, including trade, technology, security and human rights. The US alleged that the Houston consulate was a nest of Chinese spies who tried to steal data from facilities in Texas, including the Texas A&M medical system and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. China said the allegations were "malicious slander."

Moving trucks arrived at the U.S. consulate Sunday afternoon and left a few hours later. Late at night, flatbed trailers entered the complex. One later emerged carrying a large shipping container and a crane. Before the area was closed, the impending closure of the consulate drew a steady stream of onlookers over the weekend as Chengdu, like Houston, found itself in the limelight of international politics.

People stopped to take photos, jamming a sidewalk busy with shoppers and families with strollers on a sunny day in the city of Chengdu. Police had shut the street and sidewalk in front of the consulate and set up metal barriers along the sidewalk on the other side of the tree-lined road.

Uniformed and plainclothes officers kept watch on both sides of the barriers after scattered incidents following the Chengdu announcement on Friday, including a man who set off firecrackers and hecklers who cursed at foreign media shooting video and photos of the scene.

A man who tired to unfurl a large placard late Sunday that he called an open letter to the Chinese government was quickly taken away. Earlier, a bus left the consulate grounds and what appeared to be embassy staff spoke with plainclothes police before retreating back behind the property's solid black gates. It wasn't clear who or what was on the bus. Three medium-size trucks arrived and left a few hours later, and cars with diplomatic plates departed in between.