Jittery authorities in Anhui's provincial capital, Hefei, were on high alert yesterday for the trial of Gu Kailai, billed as the most politically sensitive case in China for decades.
From early in the morning, hundreds of police and plain-clothes officers sealed off the streets around the courtroom where Gu made her first public appearance in months and, according to state media, 'calmly' accepted the murder charge.
Dozens of police vehicles were stationed nearby and helicopters were seen hovering above the Hefei Intermediate People's Court.
Unfazed by the heavy security and the pouring rain swept in by Typhoon Haikui, more than 200 mainland and overseas journalists began to gather outside the court at 6am.
Although they had been told earlier that entry to the courtroom would be open only to a few selected state media outlets such as Xinhua and state television, many reporters apparently hoped to get a glimpse of the mysterious Gu, the wife of high-profile princeling politician Bo Xilai , who was toppled in the ensuing political crisis.
At about 6.40am, a van believed to be carrying Gu entered the court's underground car park.
Before 8am, two British diplomats invited to be present arrived at a side entrance and were led into the building through a police cordon.