URUMQI, China – Security was heavy in the western Chinese city of Urumqi on Saturday after two days of demonstrations over a series of syringe attacks left five people dead and 14 injured.
China's security chief blamed Muslim separatists on Friday for the needle attacks that have heightened tensions following ethnic rioting in July that left nearly 200 people dead according to official count.
Metal barricades blocked entrances to neighborhoods of the largely Muslim Uighur ethnic group, with large numbers of People's Armed Police manning checkpoints backed up by dozens of trucks and other military vehicles.
The Xinjiang region and its capital, Urumqi, have for decades faced a simmering Uighur separatist movement.
The latest protests demanded increased security and the resignation of Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Wang Lequan, an ally of President Hu Jintao, and raised Chinese leaders' worries that violence between the majority Han Chinese and Uighurs in the city of 2.5 million could flare again.
Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong said the five deaths occurred Thursday, the first day of the demonstrations. Zhang said two "innocent" victims were killed in "small-scale clashes," but gave no details.
The World Uyghur Congress, a Germany-based exile group, said Hans attacked more than 10 Uighurs during the protests and tried to storm the Nanmen mosque on Friday but were stopped by the authorities.
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu said the Uighur Muslim separatists that Beijing blames for the July 5 ethnic rioting also orchestrated the syringe attacks.
"Their purpose is to damage ethnic unity," Meng said in comments broadcast on nationwide television.
Meng gave no evidence, and the government has not backed up its accusations that separatists incited July's violence. By most accounts, the riot started after police confronted peaceful Uighur protesters, who then attacked Han Chinese. Days later, Han vigilantes tore through Uighur neighborhoods to retaliate.
Meng vowed the government would speed up charging and prosecuting more than 1,200 people detained after the riots, in which the government says 197 people were killed and about 1,700 injured.
The syringe attacks fed days of rumors and fear before they were publicly reported Wednesday.
Zhang said 21 people have been detained on suspicion of carrying out the needle attacks and four indicted. He said all were Uighurs.
Local police said hospitals in Urumqi were treating 531 people who believed they were attacked, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Of those, 106 showed obvious signs of needle attacks, it said.
AFP/John Macdougall
New User?
New User?
buzzed up:
14 seconds ago 2009-09-04T22:04:03-07:00
buzzed up:
14 seconds ago 2009-09-04T22:04:03-07:00
buzzed up:
15 seconds ago 2009-09-04T22:04:02-07:00
buzzed up:
15 seconds ago 2009-09-04T22:04:02-07:00
buzzed up:
31 seconds ago 2009-09-04T22:03:46-07:00
0 comments:
Post a Comment