Thousands protest against Japan

Chinese demonstrators throw stones during an anti-Japanese rally in Shanghai yesterday. Thousands of people staged violent anti-Japanese rallies across China in a second weekend of protests as Beijing said relations with its neighbour were at a crossroad. PHOTO: AFP

Onlookers estimated up to 10,000 people alone marched along Yanan Road in Shanghai towards the Japanese consulate while several thousand rallied in the eastern city of Hangzhou and similar numbers in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing.

At the consulate in Shanghai, riot police three-deep linked arms to prevent the rowdy crowd from entering the compound as they pelted it with rocks, bottles and paint, smashing windows.

Elsewhere in the city, Japanese restaurants, businesses and cars were attacked with rocks and eggs. One restaurant was completely destroyed.

More protests, sparked by the Japanese government's approval of revamped history textbooks which Beijing felt made light of the nation's atrocities in World War II, are expected around China Sunday.

However, a rally scheduled for the capital Beijing, where police were out in force, failed to materialise following a warning Friday against any protests by the Public Security Bureau.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Saturday he will "strongly protest" to Beijing when he visits Sunday for its failure to stop the violent demonstrations and demand an apology.

Machimura said Japan will also renew demands of compensation for damage incurred during the protests.

"I will meet Foreign Minister Li (Zhaoxing) tomorrow and we will bring up this issue during the meeting," he said.

"The embassy has called the Chinese authorities to take necessary measures to stop the illegal and violent actions staged by the Chinese mobs," Keiji Ide, spokesman for the Japanese embassy in Beijing, told AFP.

The rallies in Shanghai began at three separate venues -- the Bund, People's Square and Shanghai Museum -- before the demonstrators shouting "Down with Japan" and "Boycott Japanese Goods" converged to march to the consulate.