US diplomatic staff at the Chengu consulate in China are finishing packing at the consulate's premises ahead of the 10am Monday deadline to leave, set by the Chinese government at the end of last week.
According to The Guardian, there have been crowds outside the consulate all day, along with police officers keeping order. A bus left early this morning, transporting either staff or equipment or both, and people have been coming and going all weekend.
Last Friday, an official from the US State Department with a group of men were seen forcing their way into the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, a little while after it was officially closed down by the government. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the facility "a hub of spying and intellectual property theft" when he announced the closure order, to which China swiftly retaliated with the order to close the consulate in Chengdu, in a downward spiral of diplomatic relations.