Protesters gather outside Japan embassy in Beijing

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Japan's embassy in Beijing on Sunday, a day after angry demonstrators tried to storm the building amid an escalating territorial row between Japan and China. The crowd threw water bottles at the embassy and shouted anti-Japanese slogans, waving Chinese flags and singing the national anthem. Large numbers of police stood shoulder to shoulder along the road, which was blocked to traffic. Volunteers wearing red armbands handed out water and food and a medical team stood by. The territorial dispute intensified last week after Japan announced that it had bought islands in the East China Sea which it administers and calls Senkaku, but which China claims and calls Diaoyu. Sunday's fresh protest came after tens of thousands of people protested in at least a dozen cities across China on Saturday, with attacks on Japanese-built cars and Japanese restaurants. In Shanghai more than 200 protesters marched to the Japanese consulate on Sunday, one group chanting "Down with little Japan" while waving flags and banners. Police in the commercial hub stepped up security, using shipping containers and plastic barriers to block off nearby streets, after major protests erupted on Saturday. Six Chinese ships sailed into waters around the disputed archipelago Friday, with Beijing saying they were there for "law enforcement", prompting Tokyo to summon the Chinese ambassador to protest what it called a territorial incursion. Much of the information about the protests posted online in China appeared to have been removed by Beijing's army of Internet censors -- suggesting that authorities hope to prevent the row from spiralling out of control. The protests did not feature on regular news bulletins on the state-run China Central Television.