日本媒体对北京4月9日万人抵制日货游行示威的报道
Chinese protestors pelt Japan Embassy, envoy's residence
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=333619
BEIJING — Chinese protestors marched en masse through Beijing's streets and threw rocks at the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese ambassador's residence Saturday, accusing Japan of distorting its wartime past and urging a boycott of Japanese products.
No official figures were available for the number of people who took part in the anti-Japan rally, but estimates ranged from between 10,000 and 20,000.
One group of demonstrators threw rocks and plastic bottles into the Japanese Embassy compound late in the afternoon, cheering when objects hit the embassy, at which Chinese riot police in helmets stood guard.
Shortly afterward, several thousand people surrounded the official residence of Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami in the eastern part of the city, away from the compound, also throwing stones at the building.
About 20 panes of glass were broken at the embassy, and several windows were broken at the ambassador's residence, a Japanese Embassy official said.
China expressed regret at the throwing of rocks later Saturday.
Vice Foreign Minister Qiao Zonghuai conveyed an "expression of regret" after Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami filed a protest, the embassy said in a statement.
But the pelting of the embassy continued during the night, with about 1,000 demonstrators surrounding the compound.
Other targets included a Japanese restaurant, whose windows were broken when demonstrators threw stones. A branch of a Japanese bank was also pelted with rocks. Some of the protesters overturned a car believed to be Japanese near Anami's residence.
The demonstration in Beijing was the largest in a recent series of protests in China against Japan, which began in opposition to Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
The protests escalated as Japan prepared to approve a controversial history textbook composed by a group of nationalistic historians. Earlier this week Tokyo approved the textbook, which critics say whitewashes Japan's wartime atrocities.
Dozens of uniformed police officers monitored the rally, ushering protesters to move forward. They made no attempt to stop the rally or the throwing of objects at the Japanese Embassy.
"Down with Japan," protesters shouted, at times raising their fists. "Boycott Japanese products!"
One placard read that Japanese products should be "driven out of China," listing names of Japanese companies.
The majority of the demonstrators appeared to range in age from their late teens to their 30s. They had gathered in the morning at a shopping center in the technological research and sales hub of Zhongguancun in the capital's northwest.
The crowd, which numbered several hundred people at around 9 a.m., quickly grew to several thousand. It eventually broke into groups that headed for different parts of the city.
"This should show you the anger of the Chinese people," said Wang Bo, a man in his 30s who was waving a Chinese flag in front of one of the groups.
"We can not forgive the Japanese government, which has not only made the Chinese suffer but also whitewashed historical events in its textbook," Wang said.
At one point in the morning, some demonstrators gathered near a local outlet of Japanese restaurant chain Yoshinoya and shouted, "Don't sell Japanese goods." Police dispersed the group.
In another part of the city, a car was seen driving around dragging a Japanese flag on the street.
In a rare move, the English-language service of China's official news agency Xinhua ran a story on the rally, noting that more than 10,000 people took part in a demonstration to protest "Japan's distortion of its wartime past." China's state media seldom reports on protest rallies inside China.
Calls to participate in the event had been made via the Internet.
Protests have already turned violent in some areas. Last weekend in Chengdu, demonstrators vandalized a shopping mall operated by Ito-Yokado Co and an outlet in Shenzhen run by Aeon Co, both major Japanese supermarket operators.
China has expressed no support for Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, saying Tokyo needs first to "correctly deal with" its militarist past. China itself is a member of the powerful council. (Kyodo News)
[此贴子已经被作者于2005-4-10 23:51:43编辑过] |