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This ain’t going to get better.
Violence in China’s restive western region of Xinjiang has left at least 156 people dead and more than 800 people injured, state media say.
Several hundred people were arrested after a protest, in the city of Urumqi on Sunday, turned violent.
Beijing says Uighurs went on the rampage but one exiled Uighur leader says police fired on students.
The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month.
The BBC’s Chris Hogg in Shanghai says this is one of the most serious clashes between the authorities and demonstrators in China since Tiananmen Square in 1989.
‘Dark day’
Eyewitnesses said the violence started on Sunday in Urumqi after a protest of a few hundred people grew to more than 1,000.
Xinhua says the protesters carried knives, bricks and batons, smashed cars and stores, and fought with security forces.
Wu Nong, news director for the Xinjiang government, said more than 260 vehicles were attacked and more than 200 shops and houses damaged.
Most of the violence is reported to have taken place in the city centre, around Renmin (People’s) Square, Jiefang and Xinhua South Roads and the Bazaar.
See detailed map of Urumqi city centreThe police presence was reported to be heavy on Monday.
Adam Grode, an American studying in Urumqi, told Associated Press: “There are soldiers everywhere, police are at all the corners. Traffic has completely stopped.”
UIGHURS AND XINJIANG
Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims
They make up about 45% of the region’s population. 40% are Han Chinese
China re-established control in 1949 after crushing short-lived state of East Turkestan
Since then, large-scale immigration of Han Chinese
Uighurs fear erosion of traditional culture
Sporadic violence since 1991
Attack on 4 Aug 2008 near Kashgar kills 16 Chinese policemenIn pictures: Xinjiang protests
Q&A: China and the Uighurs
China tells its own story
Accounts of Xinjiang violenceA witness in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar told AP there was a protest there on Monday of about 300 people but there were no clashes with police.
It is still unclear who died in Urumqi and why so many were killed.
The Xinjiang government blamed separatist Uighurs based abroad for orchestrating attacks on ethnic Han Chinese.
But Uighur groups insisted their protest was peaceful and had fallen victim to state violence, with police firing indiscriminately on protesters in Urumqi.
Dolkun Isa, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) in Munich, disputed the official figures, saying the protest was 10,000 strong and that 600 people were killed.
He rejected reports on Xinhua that it had instigated the protests.
Xinhua had quoted the Xinjiang government as blaming WUC leader Rebiya Kadeer for “masterminding” the violence.
But Mr Isa said the WUC had called on Friday only for protests at Chinese embassies around the world.
Pedestrians pass a burned out car in Urumqi, 6 July
More than 260 vehicles were destroyed in Urumqi, officials saidAlim Seytoff, the vice-president of another Uighur group – the US-based Uighur American Association – condemned the “heavy-handed” actions of the security forces.
“We ask the international community to condemn China’s killing of innocent Uighurs. This is a very dark day in the history of the Uighur people,” he said.
When asked about the rioting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that all governments must protect freedom of speech and “the life and safety of civilian populations”.
A spokesman for UK PM Gordon Brown said Britain was urging “restraint on all sides”.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said he had raised the issue of human rights with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao in Rome.
Internet blocks
The Uighurs in Urumqi were reportedly angry over an ethnic clash last month in the city of Shaoguan in southern Guangdong province.
A man there was said to have posted a message on a local website claiming six boys from Xinjiang had “raped two innocent girls”.
FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME
More from Today programme
Police said the false claim sparked a vicious brawl between Han and Uighur ethnic groups at a factory. Two Uighurs were killed and 118 people were injured.
BBC sources in China report they have been unable to open the Twitter messaging site in Shanghai and that message boards on Xinjiang on a number of websites were not taking posts.
Reports from Xinjiang suggest some internet and mobile phone services have been blocked.
Analysts say the government’s so-called Great Firewall of China, which it uses to block unwanted internet material, will prevent large-scale dissemination of information but that dedicated internet users can bypass it fairly easily.
BBC China editor Shirong Chen says there has been ethnic tension in Xinjiang since before the founding of the People’s Republic.
Some of its Uighur population of about eight million want to break away from China and its majority Han Chinese population.
The authorities say police are securing order across the region and anyone creating a disturbance will be detained and punished.
However, our China editor says there may be questions asked about their inability to prevent a protest they knew about days in advance.
And the fin continues:
Thousands of security forces have been deployed in the city of Urumqi in China’s Xinjiang region to try to end deadly ethnic clashes.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has cut short his visit to Italy for the G8 summit to deal with the crisis.
The unrest between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese began on Sunday and has left 156 people dead.
The Communist party boss in Urumqi has said those found guilty of murder will be put to death.
Map showing protest area in Urumqi
More than 1,400 people have been arrested over the violence.
Return to Beijing
The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville, reporting from Urumqi’s Uighur neighbourhood, says there are thousands of paramilitary police in the city in a situation he says is virtually martial law.
AT THE SCENE: 8 JULY
Quentin Somerville
Quentin Sommerville, BBC News, UrumqiHere in Urumqi’s Uighur Muslim neighbourhood, just on the edge, many hundreds of paramilitary police are on the move. They are seeking to separate this mainly Muslim part of the city from Han Chinese.
Riot police are all around with shields, helmets, some are carrying semi-automatic weapons, others have clubs. They are lining up across the streets to separate these two sides.
We haven’t seen any violence yet, we did see some Han Chinese running with batons, they were chased down a side street but this is massive deployment of troops on a scale this city hasn’t seen in a very, very long time. It feels like martial law in everything but name.
7 July: Ethnic mobs overrun cityOur correspondent says the situation is still tense, with rumours and counter-rumours of ethnic attacks.
Li Zhi, the Communist chief in Urumqi, said the government would execute those found guilty of killings during the riots.
The AFP news agency also quoted the mayor of Urumqi, Jerla Isamudin, as saying the situation was now “under control”.
However, there were earlier reports of fresh scuffles as police tried to arrest protesters.
Reuters news agency said crowds of Han Chinese were volatile and growing. Some were angry that police were arresting young Han men.
AFP reporters also said they had seen fresh violence on Wednesday, including one attack on a Uighur man by Han Chinese.
They said the man was beaten and kicked by about six people as dozens of Han Chinese yelled encouragement, before police moved in to end the attack.
President Hu was expected to join G8 talks taking place in Rome on Thursday.
Instead he flew home from an airport in Pisa, leaving officials to represent China at the G8 summit. He arrived back in Beijing on Wednesday, China’s official news agency Xinhua said.
A state visit to Portugal has been postponed.
Our correspondent says the authorities in Xinjiang have been told they have to sort the crisis out as soon as possible amid the embarrassment of Mr Hu having to cancel his G8 attendance.
But he says it is very unlikely there will be any shift in China’s policy in Xinjiang, just as it did not change in Tibet after unrest there last year.
‘Deadliest riot’
On Tuesday, riot police fired tear gas to break up groups of Han Chinese armed with clubs, who said they were angry at violence carried out by Uighurs in the north-western province.
XINJIANG: ETHNIC UNREST
BBC map
Main ethnic division: 45% Uighur, 40% Han Chinese
26 June: Mass factory brawl after dispute between Han and Uighurs in Guangdong, southern China, leaves two dead
5 July: Uighur protest in Urumqi over the dispute turns violent, leaving 156 dead and more than 1,000 hurt
7 July: Uighur women protest at arrests of men-folk. Han Chinese make armed counter-march
8 July: President Hu Jintao returns from G8 summit to tackle crisisQ&A: China and the Uighurs
Accounts of Xinjiang violence
In pictures: Xinjiang troops
Chinese media bullish over riots
Assessing the role of Uighur exilesEarly in the day, Uighur women had rallied against the arrest of family members, saying hundreds of their men had been detained arbitrarily in a massive police sweep through Urumqi’s Uighur districts.
Later hundreds of Han Chinese marched through the streets of Urumqi smashing shops and stalls belonging to Uighurs.
Our correspondent says some of the protesters were shouting “down with Uighurs” as they rampaged through the streets armed with homemade weapons.
Officials say 156 people – mostly Han Chinese – died in Sunday’s violence. Uighur groups say many more have died, claiming 90% of the dead were Uighurs.
One official described Sunday’s unrest as the “deadliest riot since New China was founded in 1949”.
The unrest erupted when Uighur protesters attacked vehicles before turning on local Han Chinese and battling security forces.
They had initially been protesting over a brawl between Uighurs and Han Chinese several weeks earlier in a toy factory thousands of miles away in Guangdong province.
China’s authorities have repeatedly claimed that exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer is stirring up trouble in the region. But she told the BBC she was not responsible for any of the violence.
FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME
More from Today programme
Tensions have been growing in Xinjiang for many years, as Han Chinese migrants have poured into the region, where the Uighur minority is concentrated.
Many Uighurs feel economic growth has bypassed them and complain of discrimination and diminished opportunities.
Some Uighurs support the notion of an independent state and there have been a number of bombings and some attacks on security forces.
Chinese authorities say the Xinjiang separatists are terrorists with links to al-Qaeda and receive support from outside the country.
Campaigners accuse China of exaggerating the threat to justify tough security clampdowns in the region.
Only John Rambo would have done a better job:
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