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More anti-Japan
protests in China over Diaoyutais
AP, BEIJING
Chinese riot policemen shield
themselves from projectiles thrown by protesters during an anti-Japanese protest
over the Diaoyutais outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing, China, on Saturday.
Photo: AFP
Security personnel tightened their guard
of the Japanese embassy yesterday as crowds of Chinese continued to protest in
the capital and across the country in sometimes violent demonstrations over
islands claimed by both nations.
Japan¡¦s leader said the dispute was affecting the safety of Japanese citizens in
China. Rows of paramilitary police lined the perimeter of the embassy in Beijing
as police let protesters in groups of up to 100 walk past the building. Many
protesters threw items such as water bottles, bananas, tomatoes and eggs at the
embassy and chanted that the disputed East China Sea islands, which are
controlled by Japan, belong to China. Dozens carried portraits of former Chinese
leader Mao Zedong (¤ò¿AªF), who is often used as a rallying symbol. One man draped
the Japanese flag over his dog. Riot police stood on nearby streets and about 20
of their vehicles were parked behind the embassy.
Security forces wearing helmets and carrying shields fired tear gas into crowds
of people in Shenzhen. Some protesters picked up smoking tear gas canisters and
hurled them back in the direction of the security forces. Protesters also
overturned a police vehicle and smashed its window. No one was reported injured.
More than 10,000 people marched in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, Xinhua
news agency said. Its Guangzhou office reported a small number of protesters
broke into a hotel next to the Japanese consulate and smashed windows and a
Japanese restaurant, and that police detained several people for damaging
property. Police in Guangzhou were asking the public to use their camera phones
to record people smashing property and offer the evidence to police, Xinhua
said.
In Shanghai, hundreds of protesters across from the main gate of the Japanese
consulate chanted and waved banners. About 50 paramilitary police officers stood
outside. Police cordoned off the street and were allowing people to protest in
groups of 50 for between five and 10 minutes before escorting them away.
Nearly 4,000 people demonstrated in the capital of China¡¦s tropical Hainan
Island and largely peaceful protests occurred in seven other cities in the
north, south and east ¡§with few instances of looting and car smashing,¡¨ Xinhua
reported. Some restaurants and stores selling Japanese goods closed and hung up
Chinese flags as protesters approached, it said.
Anti-Japanese sentiment, never far from the surface in China, has been building
for weeks, touched off by moves by Tokyo and fanned by a feverish campaign in
Chinese state media. Passions grew more heated this past week after Japan¡¦s
government purchased three of the contested East China Sea islands ¡X called the
Diaoyutai Islands (³¨³½¥x) in Taiwan, Diaoyu in China and Senkakus in Japan ¡X from
their private Japanese owners.
¡§We will not stand passively by and allow our territory and sovereignty to be
invaded,¡¨ a female voice said over loudspeakers broadcasting government messages
in streets near the embassy in Beijing.
They urged people to obey the law and not to ¡§disturb the social order.¡¨
Many of the protesters were in their 20s and 30s, but older people and families
also took part.
On Saturday, protesters turned out in more than two dozen cities across China.
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