Over 10,000 Hong Kong residents Sunday took to the streets to protest against the Japanese government for its support to right-wing groups in distorting Japan's history of aggression, its claim on China's territory of Diaoyu Islands and its bid for a permanent seat of the UN Security Council.

People started gathering at the Victoria Park Sunday afternoon, some dispatching discs and pamphlets about Diaoyu Islands, some wearing T-shirts written with "We are in rage. Japan must apologize."

Representatives of different groups delivered speeches on the stages, telling the facts of history of anti-Japanese war, denouncing Japanese right-wing groups' distorting of its war-time history and Japan's claim on China's territory of Diaoyu Islands, objecting Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Before the start of the procession, patriotic songs like " Yellow River Cantata" were aired above the Victoria Park. Organizers of the campaign called on citizens to sign against Japan to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council and demand Japan withdraw from China's territory of Diaoyu Islands. Many people raised high the national flag, some holding banners prepared by themselves.

Singing the national anthem, protesters then set out from the Victoria Park to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government headquarters in the Central. They shouted slogans and demanded apologies from Japan on its history of aggression. The whole protest proceeded in an orderly way.

One of the organizers said the procession was against Japanese militarism and its right-wing groups.

An old man who experienced the World War II said the war had broken his family up. Japan's recent behaviors made him sad and angry. Some people took part in the protest together with their children, hoping that this might educate the younger generation.

Also on Sunday, Hong Kong Federation of Trade Union launched a signature campaign against Japan's taking the road of militarism, demanding the Japanese government apologize for its history of aggression and immediately correct the distorted history including the textbooks.

The Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong also held a street signature campaign, seriously denouncing Japan for its revision of the history textbooks and strongly objecting Japan's bid for a permanent seat on UN Security Council.

It is estimated that over 100 secondary schools and primary schools as well as 4,000 teachers have taken part in the signature campaigns.

According to a recent survey conducted by Hong Kong Education Convergence and Chinese History Education Society, over 94 percent of the respondents are strongly against Japan's distorting history of aggression in the new history textbooks.