[VOA News]Japan Files Protest as Anti-Japanese Demonstrations in China Spread

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Anti-Japanese demonstrations on Sunday spread to two southern Chinese cities following rowdy protests the previous day in Beijing. The Japanese government is calling the actions "gravely regrettable" and demanding action, and an apology, from the Chinese government.

As demonstrations flared in the Chinese cities of Guanghzou and Shenzen Sunday, Japan's Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador here to protest Saturday's violent anti-Japanese rally at the Japanese embassy in Beijing.

Japanese officials say Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told Ambassador Wang Yi that Tokyo wants an apology, compensation for damage to the Japanese embassy and assurances that Japanese citizens and property in China won't be harmed.

However, shortly after the meeting, there were reports of tens of thousands of Chinese demonstrating against Japan in the south of the country.

Hong Kong television on Sunday showed young demonstrators in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, gathering outside the Japanese consulate and shouting "Boycott Japanese goods." They also stomped on a replica of a Japanese flag and then burned it. Police could be seen observing the demonstrators but did not intervene.

Thousands of protesters also gathered for a noisy demonstration outside a Japanese supermarket in Shenzhen, the city directly across the border from Hong Kong.

The new protests came after the Japanese Embassy in Beijing also called on China to protect Japanese people and property in China. Embassy spokesman Keiji Ide said on Sunday that Ambassador Koreshige Anami had demanded protection from the Chinese.

"The Chinese authorities should make necessary measures to [protect] our other consulate-generals in other cities," he said. "And also, Ambassador Anami requested Chinese deputy foreign minister to take all necessary measures to protect Japanese citizens and Japanese companies [in China]."

The Chinese marchers are calling for a boycott of Japanese goods in the wake of new Japanese textbooks seen as glossing over Japan's brutal early 20th century occupation of China, and they do not want Japan to be given a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

In the Beijing demonstrations Saturday, protesters threw rocks and bottles at the Japanese Embassy and the residence of Ambassador Anami. Japanese officials say some 20 glass panes were shattered at the embassy, while several glass windows were smashed at the ambassador's residence.

Stones also shattered the windows of a nearby Japanese restaurant, a Japanese bank branch was pelted with rocks and a billboard featuring Japanese-brand products was damaged.

Estimates of the number of protesters in Beijing ranged from 10,000 to 20,000 - a scale of public protest unseen in the communist country in years.