China imposes curfews after riots as President leaves G8

Continued ethnic violence in China has forced the country's president to leave the G8 summit and return home. Thousands of security forces were deployed in the Muslim capital city of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang region to try to end deadly ethnic clashes as President Hu Jintao lefty Italy to deal with the crisis. The unrest between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese began on Sunday and has left 156 people dead. More than 1,400 people have been arrested over the violence. In fresh chaos on Tuesday, thousands of Han Chinese carrying machetes and axes took to the streets. It comes in revenge for Sunday's Uighur rally which was in protest at how the government handled a clash in June between Han Chinese and Uighur factory workers in southern China which left two Uighurs dead. The rally became violent and 156 people died and around 1,000 were injured. Now it has been the turn of some Han Chinese to take to the streets and on Tuesday they surged through Urumqi looking for Uighur targets. "They attacked us. Now it's our turn to attack them," one man said as other protesters held up their fists in a show of defiance and chanted slogans including "Exterminate the Uighurs" and "Unity is Strength". Crowds stopped to smash Uighur restaurants, throw rocks at a mosque - ignoring pleas from moderates among the protesters - and threaten nervous-looking residents. "It's your time to suffer," they shouted at some of the apartment blocks lining Xinfu Road, which protesters said saw some of the worst destruction in Sunday's riots. At one point Han protesters chased a teenage boy who looked Uighur up a tree and began throwing sticks at him, while others begged for calm and eventually got him to safety. Along with Tibet, Xinjiang is one of the most politically sensitive regions in China and in both places the government has sought to maintain its grip by controlling religious and cultural life while promising economic growth and prosperity. But minorities have long complained that Han Chinese reap most of the benefits from official investment and subsidies, making locals feel like outsiders.

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ITN | July 8, 2009

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