Video Related To: Citizens angry at Tokyo take to the streets

Thousands of Chinese protesters hurled bottles and eggs outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Saturday amid growing tensions between the two nations over a group of disputed islands. Waving Chinese national flags and holding portraits of the late Chairman Mao Zedong, the mostly young protesters chanted "down with Japanese imperialism" and called for war as they made their way down the streets under the watchful eyes of police and guards. Elsewhere in China, anti-Japanese rallies broke out in dozens of cities and sometimes turned violent. Messages and photos posted on Chinese social media sites showed angry mobs in numerous cities ransacking Japanese stores and restaurants as well as smashing and burning cars of Japanese make. Japanese media also reported incidents of assault on Japanese nationals in China in the past few days. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman insisted Friday that the public anger was not aimed at the Japanese people, whose safety would be protected in China according to law. Authorities rarely permit protests in China, prompting suspicion that Saturday's nationwide rallies were government-sanctioned. In Beijing, police walking along the demonstrators were seen to ask spectators to join in instead of blocking the street. By Saturday night, China's state-run media had started appealing for restraint, running commentaries that condemned violence and lectured the public on the true meaning of patriotism. In a sign of rising concern over the gathering <b>...</b>