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May 8, 1999
Web posted at: 5:50 a.m. EDT (0950 GMT)

BEIJING (CNN) -- A thousand students marched in front of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to protest the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, holding posters and red flags and shouting "Down with Americans."

Angry Chinese students burned a U.S. flag outside the American embassy in Beijing on Saturday during the mass demonstration against the embassy bombing, witnesses said.

Hundreds of students and onlookers cheered and clapped as the flag was burned outside the main gates of the building. Police stood and watched.

The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, summoned U.S. Ambassador James Sasser and lodged the "strongest protest," the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Police in large numbers watched but let the students march in front of the embassy in well-ordered ranks representing at least five universities.

Some of the protesters sang the Chinese national anthem, and others shouted "Protect sovereignty, protect peace" and "We don't want war." Signs hung on a bus that brought students to the embassy said "NATO Nazis."

The protest was highly unusual for China, where authorities generally have banned any large gatherings or demonstrations for fear of unrest. But the students and government this time were in accord. The Chinese government has strongly opposed the NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia since they started.

At least three people were killed and more than 20 were injured when NATO missiles struck the embassy in Belgrade, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. One person was missing. A Xinhua reporter, Shao Yunhuan, was among the dead, it said. NATO said it did not intentionally target the embassy.

In a statement, China's government said U.S.-led NATO fired three missiles from different angles at its Belgrade embassy, in "a gross violation of Chinese sovereignty."

"The Chinese government and people express their utmost indignation and severe condemnation of the barbarian act and lodge the strongest protest," said the statement reported by Xinhua and broadcast on nationwide television.

"U.S.-led NATO should bear all responsibilities," it said. Beijing said it reserved the right to take further action over the embassy bombing but gave no details. China called an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Saturday to condemn the attack. It wanted the United Nations to investigate the bombing and for NATO to provide an explanation.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing advised staff and Americans living in the Chinese capital "to raise their security awareness," said spokesman Bill Palmer.

An embassy notice said there was "the possibility for acts of retaliation against Americans and American interests worldwide."

The bombing also angered Chinese who were not among the student protesters.

Some expressed anger toward U.S. President Clinton and said NATO and the United States should not be involved in Yugoslavia.

China has been outspoken in its criticism of the NATO campaign, accusing NATO of killing innocent civilians and repeatedly demanding that the alliance immediately stop bombing.

Chinese news media, all controlled by the government, have reported virtually none of the Serbian attacks on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

In Beijing, Yugoslav Ambassador Slobodan Unkovic expressed condolences for the death of the Xinhua correspondent and thanked China for its diplomatic support, Xinhua reported.

With restive ethnic regions of their own, Chinese leaders fear that NATO has set a dangerous precedent by attacking a sovereign nation without U.N. authorization.

In Hong Kong, about 30 protesters marched to the U.S. and British Consulates carrying signs that said "NATO: Stop Bombing, Stop Crime." The protests were organized by the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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