Chinese residents protested on a busy Houston street corner Saturday afternoon, holding signs and chanting for more police protection and an end to the violent crime spree against the city's Asian residents.

The crowd stood under a hot sun at Westheimer and Post Oak in the Galleria area, and used megaphones to voice their demands.

Many wore white T-shirts with the slogan "More Police Presence. Less Crime" written on the back.

"No more crime. No more robberies. We want safety. We want more police,'' the protesters chanted.

Others engaged motorists at the Galleria intersection with large, colorfully printed posters. Organizers of the protest also said they want Houston police to recruit more Chinese officers to the force.

One of the organizers was Houston immigration attorney Jessica W. Chen, who was robbed by two men who confronted her outside her office in Chinatown on July 14. The robbers made off with her BMW car, in one of at least 50 crimes that targeted Chinese residents or their properties in the city since midsummer, Chen said.

"We want safety," she said. "We want to stop the crime against the Chinese, against our community. This is unacceptable, and that's why we are having this protest."

Protester Hanssen Zinn, 32, a father of two who works at his family-owned travel agency in Houston's Chinatown community, worries because Asian business owners are increasingly becoming targets.

"I work in Chinatown in Houston, and I've seen three of my friends who got robbed," said Zinn, adding one was a woman who was followed home from a bank and robbed of her purse that contained several thousand dollars. "I had a friend who shopped at the Galleria mall and went back to Chinatown, and a car followed them when they got into a restaurant in Chinatown. They broke the window and got into the car, and stole all the stuff. That's really bad.

"Similar things keep happening around us. We have a lot of friends in business in Chinatown and it's happening every day. We don't feel safe at all."

Houston Police Department Assistant Chief Mattie Provost monitored the peaceful afternoon protest along with several police officers. She said steps have been taken to address crime in Chinatown.

"I believe there is crime all over the city, and Chinatown is no different," Provost said.

Police are expanding a bicycle patrol in the Chinatown neighborhood, she said.

Also, police recently held town hall meetings with residents to give them information about protective measures they can take to help avoid becoming crime victims.

"We've already beefed up patrolling in the area in Chinatown as much as we can," she said. "As you know, we are short-handed in law enforcement officers.

"And so I think every community is asking for more police, and so are we. And the mayor is obliging that by starting to get more and more cadet classes to get more police out there on the streets."

Provost said merchants who take in a lot of cash are advised not to leave money in their vehicles.

"Some of the businesses advertise that it's cash only, and one of the things we are working on is asking them to start taking credit cards," the assistant police chief said.

John Jiang, 40, an information technology consultant from Sugar Land, was handing out T-shirts during the protest.

"I really think the violence should be stopped because now it's more serious" in the Chinese community, he said, adding there is a perception the businesses owners are wealthy.

"Today we do this primarily for Chinese, but also for everybody who is a victim of crime," Jiang said.