140 Dead in China Muslim Riots

Uighur activists claim police opened fire on peaceful demonstration

(NEWSER) - Chinese state media are reporting that 156 people are dead and at least 828 injured and in the western city where clashes broke out between paramilitary police and Uighur demonstrators, Al Jazeera eports. Though the protests in Urumqi, Xinjian province, seemed to have died down, police are said to be patrolling in force and raiding university dorm rooms in search of protest organizers. Internet access and cell phone service in the city have been cut off. More»

Executed were convicted of murder during Xinjiang province unrest

(NEWSER) - Nine people convicted of murder and arson during July riots in China’s Xinjiang province were executed today. Chinese news services did not identify the executed, but previous statements suggest that they are Uighurs. The riots in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, left 197 people dead as Uighurs clashed with Han Chinese. Uighur activists slammed the executions as token measures to appease the Han community’s desire for revenge, the BBC reports. More»

(NEWSER) - China has clamped down hard on Xinjiang province after at least 156 people died in riots in Urumqi Sunday night, the New York Times reports. More than 1000 people have been detained and 20,000 security forces deployed in the capital. Cell phone and Internet services have been cut off and the government has moved to block online discussion of the riots. More»

Beijing sees conflict as new lesson to keep minorities in line

(NEWSER) - The Chinese government will likely seize upon the Georgia conflict to justify crackdowns on its own separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang, according to a Bloomberg analysis. Chinese officials view the Georgia conflict "as the result of Russia's inability to control the country," and they don't want to make the same mistake, said one analyst. More»

But human rights groups doubt government story

(NEWSER) - Chinese authorities are blaming Muslim extremists with links to Pakistan for the burst of violence in the western region of Xinjiang that killed 11 people Sunday, reports Reuters . Leaders of this latest uprising in the restive region joined the so-called East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) while in Pakistan, says Beijing, and received training in weapons and explosives. "The members of this group all adhere to extremist religious ideas and adamantly support Jihad," wrote the Kashgar government on its website . More»