China riots spread

More than 1,400 people have been arrested after violence at a Muslim rally in China left 156 people dead and more than 800 injured. The Chinese government has blamed exiled separatists for the unrest in Urumqi, the capital of China's Muslim region of Xinjiang, in what was the worst case of ethnic unrest in years. The rioting followed a protest about how the government handled a clash in June between Han Chinese and Uighur factory workers in southern China, where two Uighurs died. Abdul Ali, a Uighur man in his 20s who had taken off his shirt, held up his clenched fist. "They've been arresting us for no reason and it's time for us to fight back," he said Ali said three of his brothers as well as a sister had been among the suspects taken into police custody for questioning. Local residents complained police were making indiscriminate sweeps of Uighur areas. Xinjiang's Communist Party boss Wang Lequan the unrest had been quelled, although he warned "this struggle is far from over". Xinjiang's state-run media quoted Wang as calling for officials to launch "a struggle against separatism". Human Rights Watch's Asia advocacy director, Sophie Richardson, called for an independent probe into the unrest. "Whoever started the violence, lowering ethnic tensions in the region requires the government to constructively address Uighur's grievances, not exacerbate them," she said. 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 7, 2009

Tags:. .lowering. .maintain. .uighurs. .sought. .growth