Japan demands apology over China protests

ANTI-JAPAN protests erupted for a second day in China yesterday, as Tokyo demanded an apology and better protection for its citizens and diplomats after demonstrators smashed windows and threw eggs at the Japanese embassy.

Demonstrations against Japan have spread in China since Tokyo approved a new history textbook that critics say glosses over atrocities by Japan's military in the first half of the 20th century, including forcing tens of thousands of Asian women into sex slavery.

Beijing denounced the decision, calling the book "poison" for youthful minds in Japan.

Some 10,000 protesters surrounded a Japanese-run Jasco supermarket in the southern city of Shenzhen yesterday, said Ide Keiji, a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. They shouted "Boycott Japanese goods!" and some threw plastic bottles of mineral water at the store.

About 3,000 people marched toward the Japanese Consulate General in the southern city of Guangzhou for a peaceful "spontaneous demonstration" and police were maintaining order, said a spokesman with the Guangzhou municipal government who refused to give his name when reached by telephone.

Police prevented demonstrators from getting near the consulate, Keiji said.

A Hong Kong Cable Television correspondent reporting from Guangzhou said the protesters threw eggs at Japanese restaurants as they passed by.

On Saturday, about 1,000 protesters hurled rocks and broke windows at Japan's Embassy in Beijing, demanding a boycott of Japanese goods. They also urged their government to prevent Tokyo from gaining a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. China yesterday said it had ordered anti-Japanese protesters in Beijing to stay "calm and sane" and mobilised extra police to maintain public order, but Japanese officials complained that not enough was done. When the protesters arrived at the embassy, security forces allowed people to throw stones, said Keiji.