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Uighur Uprising in Urumqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region Results in Numerous Deaths

Posted by on 2009/07/05. Filed under China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Jul 5, 2009 – 5:33:32 PM

(Photos) Uighur Uprising in Urumqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region Results in Numerous Deaths

新疆乌鲁木齐发生维吾尔暴动:震撼图片

Boxun reports that on Sunday July 5 Muslim minority Uighurs skirmished with police in the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwest China. Chinese government media said that at least three ethnic Han Chinese were killed, but photos show far more dead bodies.

Protesters set at least one car on fire, overturned police barriers and attacked buses in several hours of violence.

Conflict between Uighurs and Han Chinese is frequent in Xinjiang, China’s vast Central Asian buffer province.

Accounts differ over what happened Sunday, but the violence seems to have started when a crowd of protesters refused police orders to disperse.

The government’s Xinhua News Agency quoted unnamed officials saying that at least three ethnic Han Chinese were killed in the violence, in which the crowd attacked passers-by, torched vehicles and interrupted traffic on some roads.

The demonstration started peacefully with more than 300 people staging a silent sit-down protest in People’s Square in Urumqi to demand an investigation into a June 25 fight between Uighur and Han Chinese workers at a toy factory in southern China.

Two reportedly died in that factory fight in southern Guangdong province, but protesters believe the real figure is higher.

Uighur separatists have waged a campaign for independence in recent decades, and the military, armed police and riot squads maintain a visible presence in the region. After a few years of relative calm, separatist violence picked up last year with attacks against border police and bombings of government buildings.

A protest by several hundred Uighurs in the city of Yining in 1997 against religious restrictions turned into an anti-Chinese uprising that the military put down, leaving at least 10 dead.

Full Chinese report: http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2009/07/200907060011.shtml

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