The U.S. Embassy expected a stampede at the visa office Wednesday, but it never happened. Instead, the Chinese who were hoping for visas were closely watched by plainclothes police officers.
About 200 people gathered outside the consular offices, opened for the first time since Chinese troops killed hundreds of unarmed civilians 10 days ago in crushing the pro-democracy movement.The State Department announced Tuesday that it would begin granting non-immigrant visas for short stays in the United States to those Chinese who want to leave the country.
"I just came here to look. I don't even have a passport yet," said one woman who said she has been accepted for a master's degree at the University of Wisconsin. "There are a lot of police here."
In Shanghai, hundreds of people crowded the U.S. consulate to apply for the visas.