Arsonist strikes Chinese consulate in San Francisco

San Francisco/Beijing: The Chinese consulate in San Francisco sustained fire and smoke damage after an arsonist struck it, the consulate said on Thursday, but no injuries were reported. The consulate said the arsonist struck on Wednesday night, carrying two cans of gasoline from a van parked on the street and then setting an embassy gate ablaze. The San Francisco Fire Department said it responded two minutes after the fire was reported and quickly got the blaze under control. On Thursday, signs of the fire were visible around the Laguna Street entrance to the consulate, where a door flanked by statues of lions was charred and the area above it blackened by smoke. Broken glass from a window above the gateway of the door lay on the steps, along with some rubble. The interior door just inside the gate was boarded with plywood from the inside. [caption id=“attachment_1320483” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A charred national emblem of the People’s Republic of China is seen in San Francisco. Reuters[/caption] The entrance hit by the arsonist is around the corner from where most of the public enters the building on Geary Street. “We strongly condemn this vicious, destructive act of arson towards the American consulate of China, which severely damaged the facilities and threatened the safety of consulate personnel and others,” the consulate said. The consulate said it was working with U.S. authorities, and urged them to solve the crime quickly. The San Francisco Fire Department said it received a report of a fire at 9:33 p.m. PST (0500 GMT), arrived on the scene within two minutes and brought the fire under control within six minutes. The fire department said its investigators responded to the scene, which has been turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Protests are common outside Chinese diplomatic missions in Western countries, but acts of violence are rare. The safety of diplomatic personnel and missions is a sensitive issue in China after a 1999 incident in which the U.S. military accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during air strikes against Serbia. That bombing, which many Chinese still believe was intentional, sparked violent anti-NATO demonstrations across China and brought relations with the United States close to a breaking point. Reuters