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Phila Siu

A man was arrested yesterday as hundreds of Hong Kong demonstrators marched on the Japanese consulate, protesting against Tokyo's assertion of control over the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
Organisers said 5,000 people took part in the rally that began in Victoria Park, while police put the figure at 850. Aside from Hongkongers, the marchers also included visitors from the mainland and Macau.
The protest remained largely peaceful, but the man was arrested after he set fire to a Japanese and an American flag at Hysan Place in Causeway Bay.
Protesters chanted slogans saying that the Mukden Incident, which Japan used as a pretext to invade China in 1931, should not be forgotten. The anniversary of the incident is on Tuesday.
Japanese military flags and a letter to Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda were burnt when the marchers arrived at the consulate at Exchange Square.
The crowd remained calm as protesters passed the Japanese Sogo department store in Causeway Bay, only chanting slogans calling on people to boycott Japanese goods.
A branch of the popular Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya on Hennessy Road closed its doors.
Meanwhile, activists said they planned to sail to the disputed Diaoyu Islands tomorrow after an earlier voyage last month when they were arrested by the Japanese authorities and returned to Hong Kong.
The activists said they would visit the Marine Department this morning to demand that it check their boat, the Kai Fung No 2, and allow it to sail again.
Its licence had been suspended for safety issues after its return from the Diaoyus, which Japan calls the Senkakus. But Tsang Kin-shing, a member of the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, said the damaged sections had been fixed.
Tsang said he and boat owner Lo Chau also planned to travel to Beijing to lodge a complaint in the capital's court that the arrest of the protesters who landed on the islands last month was an act of "kidnapping" by the Japanese authorities.


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