Thousands of Hong Kong citizens took to the streets yesterday to express their resentment against the Japanese Government's recent approval of a history textbook that whitewashes its wartime history.

The protesters were also opposed to Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council and Japan's occupation of the Chinese Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Organizers said 12,000 people took part in the march, while the police put the figure at around 5,000.

Organizers urged Japan to face up to its history of aggression and truly reflect on its past. They criticized the Japanese Government for playing down its wartime atrocities and depicting Japanese invasions as liberating other Asian countries. They urged Beijing to veto Japan's UN bid.

Yesterday's protest followed a wave of anti-Japan mass rallies that spread across many mainland cities in the past two weeks, including Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Nanning and Dongguan, among others.

On Saturday, more than 20,000 people in Shanghai took to the streets to express their anger against history-distorting right-wing forces in Japan.

Around 2 PM yesterday, protesters gathered at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay.

Protesters, singing the national anthem and shouting slogans, marched through the busy zones in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai to the Central Government Offices.

They shouted "Against Japanese militarism", "Against Japan's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council" and "Never Forget Nanjing Massacre".

Some demonstrators wore T-shirts with words "We are outraged" and waved banners saying "Lies cannot cover up the bloody facts".

The two-hour protest was held peacefully. No violence was reported although demonstrators passed by several Japanese department stores along the march route.

The rally was staged by the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, Hong Kong Coalition for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia, Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union and other political groups.

David Or, chairman of the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, said, "We will never forget that more than 35 million Chinese compatriots were killed by the Japanese invaders in World War II." He warned that militarism was finding its way back in Japan with the rise of right-wing activities there.

"Japan will not win the confidence of its Asian neighbours. They will not confer it with greater global responsibility unless it faces up to history fairly and apologizes to its war victims in Asia," he said.

Au Pak-kuen, vice-president of Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, said it is "unjust" and "shameful" for the Japanese Government to deny its historic crimes.

Hong Kong Secondary Students' Union representative Ng Chun-ho said he was deeply outraged that Japan covered up the truth of its wartime atrocities to brain-wash the younger generation.

"More than 300,000 people were killed by the Japanese in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. Although we young people nowadays have not experienced the massacres, we shared the unbearable sufferings inflicted on Chinese compatriots," said Ng.

(China Daily HK Edition April 18, 2005)