War anniversary stokes anti-Japan protests across China

The 81st anniversary of a Japanese invasion brought a fresh wave of anti-Japan demonstrations in China on Tuesday, with thousands of protesters venting anger over the colonial past and a current dispute involving contested islands in the East China Sea.

Outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing, thousands shouted patriotic slogans and demanded boycotts of Japanese goods. Some threw apples, water bottles and eggs at the embassy, which was heavily guarded by three layers of paramilitary police and metal barricades.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that protesters were throwing bricks and rocks at the Japanese consulate in Shenyang in China’s northeast.

In many provinces, including Liaoning, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan and Anhui, local governments sounded sirens at 9.18am to mark the September 18 anniversary, the official China News Service reported.

Many China-based Japanese businesses were shut Tuesday as a precaution, after several days in which anger over the island dispute produced occasional outbreaks of violence, including the torching and looting of Japanese-invested factories and shops.