Houston Fire and Police Departments responded to a fire reportedly caused by the burning of documents at the Chinese Consulate.
By Bubba Krishnamurti
A huge police and fire department response was made Tuesday evening due to reports of large volumes of documents being burned in the courtyard of the Chinese Consulate in Houston’s Montrose area. The fire and police departments arrived shortly after 8 p.m.
According to Click2Houston, “Houston police say they began receiving the reports that documents were being burned just after 8 p.m. at 3417 Montrose Boulevard where the Consulate General of China is located. Houston fire officials confirmed they are responding to the scene and HPD officials were needed for traffic control in the area. A small amount of smoke could be seen and smelled from outside. Dozens of Houston first responders are at the scene.”
Unable to enter the facility due to diplomatic procedure, HFD could only surround the consulate.
According to HPD, the consulate and a nearby living quarters for employees are being evicted on Friday. Evictions of consulates and embassies are atypical and are usually part of disagreements between governments. In recent years, China has gone from official designation as ‘strategic competitor’ to ‘strategic adversary.’ In a scene reminiscent of Argo, Chinese consulate employees seemingly raced to burn documents before eviction deadlines.
According to twitter posts and zeroedge, “Videos shared by a viewer who lives next to the consulate show several open bins or containers with flames coming out of them. People could be seen throwing things into the flaming bins.”
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