- Title: CHINA: Anti-Japan protesters scuffle with police in Beijing, march in Shanghai.
- Date: 15th September 2012
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 15, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SCUFFLING WITH POLICE BOTTLES AND OTHER OBJECTS LANDING ON PARAMILITARY POLICE PROTESTER HOLDING PHOTO COPY OF JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER YOSHIHIKO NODA WITH A SWORD STUCK IN HIS FACE OBJECTS LANDING ON PARAMILITARY POLICE VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SCUFFLING WITH POLICE SECURITY PERSONNEL STANDING BEHIND BARRIER OBJECTS LANDING ON PARAMILITARY POLICE PYLONS LANDING ON SHIELDS OF PARAMILITARY POLICE VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SCUFFLING WITH POLICE PROTESTERS TRYING TO STORMING THROUGH BARRICADE/CONE LANDING ON PARAMILITARY POLICE MAN TRYING TO SNATCH BATON FROM POLICE PROTESTERS SCUFFLING WITH POLICE POLICE HOLDING UP BARRICADES TO KEEP PROTESTERS AWAY PROTESTERS PULLING BARRICADES DOWN PROTESTERS AND POLICE LINED UP ON TWO SIDES OF BARRICADES/TREE BRANCH FLYING OVER PROTESTER HOLDING PORTRAIT OF CHAIRMAN MAO PROTESTERS AND POLICE PUSHING ON TWO SIDES OF BARRICADES PROTESTERS SCUFFLING WITH POLICE/PYLON LANDING ON POLICE SIDE SHANGHAI, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 15, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING ON STREET AND SHOUTING "SAFEGUARD THE DIAOYU ISLANDS AND BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS" PLACARD WITH NODA'S PICTURES ON IT AND CHINESE CHARACTERS READING "GET OUT OF DIAOYU ISLANDS, BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS" PROTESTERS GATHERED IN FRONT OF JAPANESE CONSULATE AND SHOUTING "GET OUT, JAPANESE DOGS" "GET OUT JAPANESE COWARDS" PROTESTERS SHOUTING "DIAOYU ISLANDS ARE CHINA'S" AND "GET OUT JAPANESE DOGS" PROTESTERS HOLDING SHORTS MADE OF JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG WITH CHINESE CHARACTERS READING "DOWN WITH JAPANESE GREEDY PIRATES"/PROTESTERS TURNING SHORTS AROUND AND SHOWING CHINESE CHARACTERS THAT READ "BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS, AND ELIMINATE JAPAN WITH NUCLEAR BOMB" PROTESTERS SHOUTING "BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS" AND "DIAOYU ISLANDS BELONG TO CHINA" PROTESTERS HOLDING PLACARDS READING "BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS" "WAKE UP CHINA" AND "WON'T BECOME CLONIAL SLAVES TO DEATH" FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AND SHOUTING "BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS" AND "DIAOYU ISLANDS BELONG TO CHINA" GUARDS IN FRONT OF CONSULATE GATE/SECURITY CORDON SIGN OF JAPANESE CONSULATE ON WALL
- Embargoed: 30th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Crime,International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA6BX7DFNQHK4WXF248DIS0JUA0
- Story Text: Thousands of Chinese across the country protest Japan's purchase of disputed islands.
Thousands of protesters besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Saturday (September 15), hurling rocks and cones at the building as police struggled to keep control, amid growing tensions between Asia's two biggest economies over a group of disputed islands.
Paramilitary police with shields and batons barricaded the embassy, holding back slogan-chanting, flag-waving protesters who at times appeared to be trying to storm the building.
As tensions escalated, and reports emerged of other protests around China, Japan said its foreign minister had cut short a visit to Australia, arriving back in Tokyo on Saturday morning to deal with the situation.
The long-standing territorial dispute escalated dramatically on Friday (September 14) when China sent six surveillance ships to a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, raising tensions between the two countries to their highest level since 2010.
China had sent the ships in response to the Japanese government's decision on Tuesday (September 11) to buy the islands, which Tokyo calls the Senkaku and Beijing calls the Diaoyu, from a private Japanese owner despite Chinese warnings against doing so.
In Shanghai, streets around the Japanese consulate, in the western part of town, were cordoned. Hundreds of police let small groups of people who marched to the compound in to protest.
Japanese media said big anti-Japan protests were also being held in the Chinese cities of Xian, Suzhou, Changsha and Nanjing.
There have been sporadic protests around China throughout the week, although those in Beijing had been small and largely peaceful.
The dispute flared up last month after Japan detained a group of Chinese activists who had landed on the islands.
Diplomats say Tokyo and Beijing want to keep the row from spiralling out of control, but managing the situation can be difficult given that China is undergoing a leadership change, an election is looming in Japan and mutual mistrust runs deep.
The ruling Communist Party, which likes to project an image of stability, rarely permits protests to take place. While Beijing is under strong popular pressure to take a tough line with Japan, it will also be cautious not to let the protests spin out of control.
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo chilled in 2010, after Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain whose boat collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessels near the islands.
Sino-Japanese ties have long been plagued by China's bitter memories of Japan's military aggression in the 1930s and 1940s and present rivalry over resources and regional clout. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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