"Long Live China" shouted the crowd, many armed with filled water bottles that they hurled at shops selling Japanese goods and even a billboard advertising Mitsubishi air-conditioners, while others kicked Japan-made cars and waved banners demanding Tokyo apologise for its wartime past.

Snaking slowly along the streets the mob, including many young people in their 20s, came to a standstill at one point as a group of protesters held up an image of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, set it ablaze and threw it to the ground amid cheers.

Riot police were a constant, highly visible presence, but mostly did not interfere in the crowd's activities, merely keeping watch as some demonstrators sought targets to attack.

The crowd amounted to the largest protest this weekend in China, which was hit by a third wave of anti-Japan demonstrations sparked by a new school textbook which Beijing says downplays Japan's wartime atrocities.

With its glitzy department stores and shiny new office buildings, much of it built with foreign money, Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, is a symbol of modern cosmopolitan China.

But this humid spring afternoon its crowded shopping streets, with their brightly colored advertisements for foreign products, was suddenly filled with a call to boycott Japanese goods.

"We aren't going to stop these protests," said Stephen Ma, a 25-year-old electronic engineer who was among the demonstrators. "The country is more important than money."

But some targets were prepared this time.

The Japanese-invested Jusco supermarket, the target of earlier mass protests in the city and starting point for the latest protest, was closed, its logos covered with blankets and its perimeter heavily guarded by police.

A group tried to break in the back door, but was repelled by police.

Some demonstrators stepped out from the crowd, estimated at more than 30,000 by the Japanese consulate in nearby Guangzhou city, to kick at Japan-made cars that were passing by.

A huge billboard advertising Mitsubishi air conditioners eventually had to stand in as symbol for everything Japanese and was bombarded with water bottles and black ink.

Every direct hit was greeted with enthusiastic cheers from the crowd, which was bolstered by onlookers.

"Japan has no morals," said one of the frenzied demonstrators. "They should just apologize for the pain they've caused us."

The hail of water bottles on the Mitsubishi billboard continued, forcing small shopowners to close down, until the crowd eventually got hold of a ladder and pulled the billboard down altogether.

"We're very angry because Japan has been really arrogant," said Chu Luhai, an engineer who said he had taken part in the protests from early in the morning. "They should face up to history."

Other angry demonstrators later hurled water bottles at another store that sells Sony electronic products, which was also closed for the day.

Many protesters, however, preferred to march peacefully and simply joined in the chanting.

Other protests flared in several cities across China Saturday and Sunday.

They were protesting against what they considered Japan's failure to adequately apologise for its wartime aggression and in opposition to its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

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