BEIJING - Thousands of Chinese smashed windows and threw rocks at the Japanese embassy and ambassador's residence in Beijing on Saturday in protest against Japan's wartime past and its bid for a U.N. Security Council seat.

Protesters pushed their way through a paramilitary police cordon to the gates of the ambassador's residence.

Some 500 paramilitary police holding plastic shields raced into the compound and barricaded the gates. "Chinese people shouldn't protect Japanese," the protesters shouted.

One group began throwing bottles and stones when they passed a Japanese restaurant, smashing windows with tiles they had ripped from its roof before police stopped them. A second restaurant was targeted later in the evening, with rocks thrown through the window, terrifying kimono-clad waitresses.

"We are all Chinese in here and were just minding our own business," one told Reuters after the attack.

Protesters also attacked a Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi branch and smashed windows before police moved in.

Another group outside the embassy in southeast Beijing threw stones and plastic water bottles smashing windows in the compound. Some demonstrators scuffled with police.

Official Protest

Chinese protesters hurl eggs at the Japanese Embassy during an anti-Japanese demonstration on April 9, 2005 in Beijing, China. (Guang Niu/Getty Images)

The violence prompted an official protest in Tokyo. By late Saturday night, the number of protesters had fallen to several dozen.

Earlier, a crowd of about 1,000 protesters was turned away from marching to the political heart of Beijing, Tiananmen Square, where a pro-democracy student protest was crushed with massive loss of life in 1989.

The crowd, singing and chanting, was turned back toward the Japanese embassy which was guarded by line of city police and behind them five lines of riot police with shields.

The demonstration started in the Beijing neighborhood of Zhongguancun, known for its electronics shops and home to a large student population, and comes less than a week after anti-Japanese protests in other Chinese cities turned violent.

The official Xinhua news agency put the number of protesters early in the day at more than 10,000. Last week, protesters smashed windows at a Japanese supermarket in southwest Chengdu after a demonstration there against Japan's bid for a permanent Security Council seat.

Protesters also took to the streets in Guangzhou, Chongqing and the southern city of Shenzhen. Media said 20 million Chinese signed an online petition opposing the U.N. seat bid.

Some protesters wore red signs pasted to their chests bearing a traditional Chinese dragon and reading "Reject Japanese goods." Others began kicking a Toyota car caught in the middle of the crowd before it managed to drive away.

Japanese corporations sunk $9.2 billion into China in 2004, highlighting the financial ties at stake should the Chinese government heed the citizens in the streets and take a more strident line in dealing with the Japan.

Additional reporting by Brian Rhoads, Benjamin Kang Lim, Reuters Television and Linda Sieg in Tokyo