China raises death toll from ethnic riots to 184
URUMQI, China — The Chinese government on Saturday raised the death toll from the communal rioting in western Xinjiang to 184 and issued the first ethnic breakdown of the dead, showing that most of those killed were from China's Han majority.
The official Xinhua News Agency, citing provincial officials, said 137 victims in the riot were Han while 46 were mainly Muslim Uighurs and one was a Hui, another Muslim group.
The new details, however, failed to quell suspicions on the streets of the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, and allegations from exile Uighur groups that many more Uighurs died, citing persistent rumors that security forces fired on Uighurs during their original protest and in following days. Turkey's prime minister compared the violence to genocide.
Nearly a week after last Sunday's riot, which was followed by days of sporadic violence and protests by groups of angry Uighurs and Han, security forces patrolled the city. Paramilitary police carrying automatic weapons and riot shields blocked some roads leading to one largely Uighur district. White armored personnel carriers and open-bed trucks packed with standing troops rumbled along main avenues.
Some Chinese began holding funeral rites for their dead. At a makeshift funeral parlor along an alley, friends paid respects at an altar with photos of the dead: a couple and her parents, all beaten to death in the riot.
Even as people mourn and the city resumes a more normal bustle, officials have yet to make public key details about the riots and what happened next. How much force police used to re-impose order is unclear after a peaceful protest Sunday degenerated into violence. Xinhua's brief report on the updated death toll did not say whether all were killed Sunday or afterward when vigilante mobs ran through the city with bricks, clubs and cleavers.
In one Uighur neighborhood Saturday, a police van blared public announcements in the Uighur language urging residents to oppose activist Rebiya Kadeer, a 62-year-old Uighur businesswoman who lives in exile in the U.S., whom China says instigated the riots without providing evidence. She has denied it.
Kadeer, president of the pro-independence World Uyghur Congress, and other overseas activists say that many more Uighurs have accused authorities of downplaying the toll to cover up killings by Chinese security forces. "We believe the actual number of people dead, wounded and arrested is much higher," she said in an interview Friday in Washington.
Kadeer has said at least 500 people were killed while other overseas groups have put the toll even higher, citing accounts from Uighurs in China.
Comments
A helicopter flies past the crescent spiral of a mosque in Urumqi, China. On Saturday, paramilitary police carrying automatic weapons and riot shields blocked some roads leading to the largely Muslim Uighur district of the city, and groups of 30 marched along the road chanting slogans encouraging ethnic unity.
- Utes fall to Seattle U. at home 11:56 a.m.
- Quinn backs embattled Weis 11:54 a.m.
- 7 charged in Mumbai attacks 11:38 a.m.
- Energy prices rise despite supply 11:27 a.m.
- Toyota to replace 4M gas pedals 11:23 a.m.
- Lampropoulos in Senate race 11:19 a.m.
- Fed tightens conflict of interest rules 11:18 a.m.
- NATO offers troops for Afghanistan 11:16 a.m.
- A vote for McCoy for Heisman 11:14 a.m.
- Stocks rise following jobless news 11:12 a.m.
- Witness describes '99 killing
- Donny and Kym dance to victory
- Utah, BYU are top choices for bowls
- Howard made the rivalry a rivalry
- Cougars cruise past Southern
- BYU would like friendlier rivalry
- Mitchell lawyers lose motion to leave
- Loyal to Cougarettes, Crimson Line
- Police increase presence at Skyline
- Protests against Phoenix LDS temple
- BYU would like friendlier rivalry
252 - Glenn Beck to enter politics?
225 - RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks
202 - Protests against Phoenix LDS temple
197 - Bronco, Kyle rubber match
138 - BYU records with win
133 - Letters: Rushing to judge Palin
126 - Hall, Johnson matchup key
102 - 4A: Timpview wins 4th in 4 years
95 - Cougars turn focus to dreaded rivals
90
You can achive your objectives, how? Don't just say we must get rid of...
I think both fans could tone it down. I don't mind taunting as long as we...
For the Millers,if times are tough, here is how you can save around 4 million...
My uncle had a U flag in his front yard last year, notice I say had? After...
the movie is based very loosely on the Shogun Assasin movies (which were the...
Seattle University.
If BYU were such a special place to coach basketball, Steve Cleveland would...
Alexis Kaufusi is AMazing! You go Girl!
What is there to judge? Oh yeah, not being there for her daughter and now...
lets be honest, if this happened at a west side school, there would not be...



You can be the first to comment on this story.