CHINA: Riot police were on Beijing's streets into the early hours of Sunday after Japan's victory over China in the final of the Asia Cup soccer tournament on Saturday night.
Police drove back soccer fans who hurled bottles and insults as Japanese players and fans left the Worker's Stadium in Beijing's embassy district.
A Japanese embassy car had its back window smashed as diplomats left the stadium. Japan beat hosts China 3-1 but locals claimed Koji Nakata's goal was fisted in and accused the Kuwaiti refereeing the game of bias.
A sign below the scoreboard urged fans to be "civilised" but Japanese flags were burnt on the pavements outside the Worker's Stadium, an ageing Soviet-style playing ground that has hosted major athletic events for decades.
More than 1,000 Chinese fans, meanwhile, gathered outside the Japanese side's hotel, singing the national anthem and shouting slogans like "Long Live China".
Beijing was tense on Saturday in the lead-up to the game. Chinese protesters had already used a game between Japan and Jordan in the provincial city of Chongqing to stage noisy protests against Japan's war past and atrocities committed in China. Roads near the Japanese Embassy in the Chinese capital were closed off after the game on Saturday night but mobs of local fans prevented Japanese spectators from leaving the stadium by a side exit.
Several thousand others also blocked streets surrounding the stadium. More than 10,000 soldiers, police and security guards patrolled the area. Soldiers on duty were young and mostly unarmed, leaving police to push back the unruly.
Beijing's police are being trained to deal with potential crises at the 2008 Olympic Games which are coming to the city but riots are extremely rare in the Chinese capital.
Japanese spectators were taken to their hotels by special buses late on Saturday night while police escorted the Japanese team to Beijing airport on Sunday morning.
China's coach, Dutchman Arie Haan, fanned the flames by refusing to accept his runner's up medal, claiming Japan's goals should not have been allowed by the referee.
"The first goal was a free kick to Japan that should have been for us, the second was handball and the third was after a foul on Sun Jihai," Haan told reporters. "How can you win when this happens?"
But the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary, Peter Velappan, said the Chinese manager "...must learn to respect that China lost to a better Japanese team".
The game was decided when Japanese midfielder Nakata hit a Shunsuke Nakamura corner into the net in the 65th minute to give Japan the lead after the teams had gone in at half time with a goal apiece. The midfielder appeared to use his right hand to force the ball over the line, drawing deafening jeers from the 65,000 Chinese fans in the stadium.
Animosity towards Japan is not uncommon in China, where schoolbooks, films and TV shows excoriate Japan for its invasion of China in 1931. Several controlled but noisy demonstrations have been staged outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing this year to protest Japan's hold over several sets of tiny islands that China also claims. Massive flows of aid and investment from Japan over decades have not stemmed the officially-encouraged animosity of locals towards Japan.
"I hate the Japanese," said advertising graduate Yu Qun, who credits her teacher and parents for her opinion. Yu, however, uses Japanese cosmetics, listens to Japanese pop music and follows Japanese fashion trends.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan last week said that the government disapproved of the overreaction of a "handful of fans" but accused the Japanese media of "exaggerating" the animosity.