Police killed 400 Uighurs in the capital of China’s Xinjiang region during ethnic unrest there, exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer claimed yesterday.
Ms Kadeer said Uighur sources within “East Turkestan”, the separatist name for the northwest region, had told her 400 Uighurs had died “as a result of police shootings and beatings” in Urumqi since violence erupted there on Sunday.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the president of the World Uighur Congress said unrest was spreading across the region and unconfirmed reports indicated more than 100 Uighurs had been killed in Kashgar, another major city in Xinjiang.
Chinese authorities have said 156 people died in Sunday’s violence in Urumqi. They have not made clear how many of the victims were Han Chinese and how many were Uighur, or how they died.
"Uighurs have contacted me to report that the Chinese authorities are in the process of conducting a house-to-house search of Uighur homes and are arresting male Uighurs," Ms Kadeer wrote.
"They say that Uighurs are afraid to walk the streets in the capital of their homeland."
China has blamed Ms Kadeer for instigating the violence, which she strongly denies.
In Urumqi yesterday, hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighbourhoods and the central square, where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets.
Notes dropped by helicopter over the regional capital yesterday carried an appeal for calm from Xinjiang's Communist Party secretary. "Secretary Wang urges everybody to return home, return to their work units and return to their communities," read the text in bold Chinese characters.
Uighurs say the riots were triggered by the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers killed in a brawl in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan. The troubles
tarted when rumours began to spread that Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim Uighur migrant workers at the toy plant had raped Chinese women.
Allegations were also posted online, and travelled through the Han community.
Police eventually said the charges were untrue. But as word spread of further alleged sexual assaults, enraged Han workers attacked their Uighur co-workers. State media say two Uighurs were killed and dozens injured. Uighur groups say the death toll was higher.
The Uighurs' employment at the toy plant was part of a labour program promoted by the government in part as a way to help forge bonds between Uighur migrants and Han Chinese workers in eastern China.
Police said on Tuesday that they had detained 13 men - three from Xinjiang and 10 Han Chinese - in connection with the factory clash.
The animosity and distrust between Han Chinese and Uighurs have been exacerbated by a series of violent acts last year attributed by the government to Uighur terrorists. Many Uighurs complain that ethnic discrimination against them has been rising.
"Many observers see growing ethnic tensions and polarisation between ethnic groups," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, a US-based advocacy group. "There's widespread cultural prejudice."
For activist Uighurs overseas, the factory clash has become a rallying event - one mentioned frequently as a trigger for the continuing unrest in Urumqi by both Han and Uighur residents. One video was posted on YouTube with the title "Chinese Commies Massacre Innocent Uyghur Workers 3," and a caption saying it shows Han Chinese with clubs beating Uighurs as they tried to flee. The veracity of the video could not be determined.
The authorities have been trying to control the most recent unrest by blocking the internet, including social networking sites such as Facebook, and limiting access to texting services on mobile phones.
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