Beijing, July 06: China’s government has blamed Uighur exiles for inciting a riot in the country’s western Xinjiang region that it says left more than 100 people dead.
The official Xinhua news agency said the deaths came in the city of Urumqi on Sunday after a protest against the government’s handling of an industrial dispute turned violent.
Xinhua said rioters burned and smashed vehicles, and fought with police, while state broadcaster CCTV showed footage of people throwing rocks at police and overturning a police car.
Xinhua had reported earlier that four people died in the clashes, including one police officer.
Xinjiang and the Uighurs
Xinjiang is officially an autonomous region covering an area about three times the size of France in China’s west.
Region is sparsely populated but has large reserves of oil, gas and minerals.
Xinjiang was formerly a key transit point on the ancient Silk Road linking China to Europe.
Region’s Turkic speaking Uighur population number around 8 million.
Uighur activists say migration from other parts of China is part of official effort to dilute Uighur culture in their own land.
Uighur separatists have staged series of low-level attacks since early 1990s.
China says Uighur separatists are terrorists and linked to al-Qaeda.
But follow-up reports put the number at 129.
Uighur exile groups have said they believe some Uighurs may also have died in the clashes, while dozens are thought to have been arrested as police cracked down on those they believe were behind the protests.
Xinhua said the situation in the city was “under control” on Monday, with police reported to be out in force.
One local resident contacted by the Reuters news agency said Urumqi, situated 3,200km west of Beijing, was “basically under martial law”.
Xinhua said local officials had ordered traffic off the streets in parts of the city to ensure there was no fresh unrest.
“The facts demonstrate this was controlled and instigated from abroad,” an unnamed official said of the riot, according to Xinhua.
The report also said the “unrest was masterminded by the World Uighur Congress” led by Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman who was jailed for years in China before being released into exile in the US.
“This was a crime of violence that was pre-meditated and organised,” Xinhua said.
‘Pent-up anger’
China has blamed ethnic separatists and Muslim extremists for stoking unrest in Xinjiang over the past decade.
But critics of Beijing say many Uighurs are angry at what they see as the growing dominance in the region of Han Chinese – China’s main ethnic group.
Uighur exile groups have adamantly rejected the Chinese government claim of a plot, saying Sunday’s riot was an outpouring of pent-up anger over government policies.
A local resident said Urumqi was “under martial law” after Sunday’s riot [Reuters]
“They’re blaming us as a way to distract the Uighurs’ attention from the discrimination and oppression that sparked this protest,” Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uighur Congress in Sweden, told Reuters.
“It began as a peaceful assembly. There were thousands of people shouting to stop ethnic discrimination, demanding an explanation… They are tired of suffering in silence.”
In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, Xinjiang was hit by several deadly attacks the authorities said were the work of “terrorists”.
But human rights groups and Uighur activists say China exaggerates the threat to justify harsh controls restricting peaceful political demands.
–Agencies