THOUSANDS of demonstrators took to the streets of Beijing and other Chinese cities yesterday in protest at the Nato bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
More than 2,000 protesters, most university students, surrounded the US Embassy in Beijing yesterday afternoon and hurled stones, plastic bottles and debris at the compound.
Students and onlookers cheered and clapped as the US flag was burned outside the main gates of the building.
While hundreds of police watched, the students from each college stopped in front of the main embassy building and one housing its visa and agriculture section, sang the national anthem and shouted slogans such as 'Down with US Running Dogs', 'Down with Nato', 'Long Live China', and 'Clinton-Hitler'.
As tempers flared, people picked up stones from the pavement - being resurfaced for celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of communist China on October 1 - and hurled them into the embassy compound.
Two glass lamps over the main entrance were smashed to loud applause.