China's muslims rioting scenes - gun shots fired by Chinese government
Background:
Xinjiang is China’s largest provincial-level administrative unit by area. It covers one-sixth of the country, but is relatively sparsely populated with a population of around 20 million.
Xinjiang is home to 8 million Uighurs, a Turkic, largely Islamic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia. Many resent the growing Han Chinese economic dominance in Xinjiang, as well as government controls on religion and culture.
Xinjiang and Tibet are the most politically sensitive regions in China, and in both cases the government has sought to maintain its grip by controlling religious and cultural life while also vowing economic growth and prosperity.
China has accused militant Uighurs of working with al Qaeda to bring about an independent East Turkestan by violent means.
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2009070739928
`Uighur Bloodbath Sparked by Fired Han Chinese Worker`
JULY 07, 2009 08:22
The bloody clashes in China’s far western Xinjiang province were sparked by a rumor that intensified the long-standing tension between Han Chinese and Muslim Uyghurs, the British daily The Times said yesterday.
The Times said Early Light toy factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, hired 800 Uyghurs in May and last month. A fired Han Chinese man held a grudge against Uyghurs on the belief that he was laid off due to newly hired Uyghurs.
The man uploaded June 16 an online post that said, "Six Uyghur workers raped two innocent Han Chinese girls at the toy factory." As the rumor spread like wildfire, the tension between the two ethnic groups ran high.
Nine days later, hundreds of Han Chinese headed to a dormitory and beat Uyghurs staying there through early June 26, killing two and injuring 118.
Chinese police concluded that the rumor was groundless and arrested the rumor starter June 28, but it was too late. The news that Uyghurs were beaten to death by Han Chinese prompted the Muslim minority to demand independence from China.
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