Vol XXVIII   NO. 21      Sunday      10th April 2005
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Anti-Japanese protests turn violent

BEIJING: Thousands of demonstrators carrying Chinese flags and anti-Japanese banners march-ed through Beijing yesterday in a nationalistic protest that turned violent over Japan's handling of its wartime past and Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Up to 10,000 protesters brought traffic to a standstill in the capital's Haidian district, and sometimes clashed with police as they marched around historic Beijing University and then headed into the heart of the city toward Japanese diplomatic compounds.

"Down with Japan," "Boycott Japanese Goods," and "Oppose a permanent seat for Japan on the UN Security Council," they shouted.

After marching for hours, protesters threw stones, bottles and eggs at the Japanese embassy and smashed windows as they continued shouting slogans and intermittently singing China's national anthem.

Although a heavy police presence and fully armed riot squads appeared to be trying to maintain order, they made no effort to stop protesters from throwing projectiles at the embassy or at the residence of the ambassador which was bombarded with bricks.

"I am Chinese, I love China," Zhang Daili, a software engineer and a recent graduate of Beijing University, said. "This is a patriotic rally, if you are a patriot then you must oppose Japan."

Along the route of the march they smashed windows in Japanese restaurants and pelted Japanese companies and banks with stones.

The protests were the largest in Beijing since about 10,000 members of the banned spiritual group Falungong encircled the Communist Party's leadership compound in July 1999.

It was also similar to protests organised by the government after the May 1999 accidental bombing by Nato forces of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, when tens of thousands of students hurled rocks and bottles at the US embassy here.

Police refused to comment on the numbers or protesters or whether or not the march had been approved by the city, as required by law. Protests are rarely approved in China and police usually need up to six days to issue an approval, police said.

Officials at the Japanese Embassy said Tokyo planned to make representations over the demonstration with the Chinese government, especially after police refused to stop protesters from breaking embassy windows.

"Since the embassy glass was broken, we are going to protest," the embassy's spokesman, Keiji Ide, said.

Ide said he has not received any reports of Japanese or other staff inside the embassy or ambassador's residence being hurt and there had been no reports of Japanese citizens targeted elsewhere in China.

In Tokyo, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi called the damage to the embassy "extremely regrettable."

Japan ignited a fresh row with China on Tuesday by authorising for school use a nationalist-written history textbook that Beijing says glosses over Japanese wartime atrocities.

  
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