Together with Houston in Texas, the capital of the province of Sichuan has been at the forefront of international politics as China and the US exchanged tit-for-tat orders last week to close each other's consulates in both cities.
On Sunday, three medium-sized moving trucks stormed a US Consulate in southwestern China, as their imminent closure over rising bilateral tensions attracted a steady stream of onlookers for the second straight day.
The Chengdu mission was ordered to be shut down in retaliation for the forced closing of the Beijing consulate in Houston, Texas, with both sides saying national security had been jeopardized by the other.
The deadline China gave for the Americans to leave China`s Chengdu remained unknown, but AFP reporters saw a worker flying on a small crane removing a circular U.S. insignia from the consulate's front, leaving only a U.S. flag.
In the early morning hours, cleaners were seen carting huge black garbage bags from the consulate. One of them broke up and seems to have torn paper in it. They removed at least ten bags from the building.
Many workers were seen inside the building holding bags, pulling trolleys and wheeled suitcases.
Police also shut down the street and sidewalk on the other side of the tree-lined road in front of the American consulate and set up metal barriers along the sidewalk.
After sporadic incidents following the Chengdu announcement on Friday, uniformed and plainclothes officers kept watching on both sides of the barriers, including a man who set off firecrackers and hecklers who threatened international media taking video and scene images.
A bus left the consulate grounds earlier Sunday, and what appeared to be embassy workers spoke with the police in plainclothes before fleeing behind the solid black gates of the house. It wasn't obvious who was on the bus or what.
Follow the latest news on Google News
