uighur

China Says at Least 140 People Die in Uighur Riots,
July 6 (Bloomberg) -- China’s government said at least 140 people were killed in ethnic rioting in the capital of Xinjiang province, and blamed overseas Uighur groups for the violence.

China Central Television aired images of smoke billowing from vehicles, crowds overturning police cars and bloodied people slumped on sidewalks in Urumqi. More than 825 people were also injured after rioting broke out in the city late yesterday, and the toll is likely to rise, the state-run Xinhua News Agency cited Liu Yaohua, the region’s police chief, as saying.The protest spread today to a second city in the region, Kashgar, the Associated Press reported, citing witnesses, including one man who said there hadn’t been any clashes there.The government said overseas separatists used the deaths of migrant Uighur workers in a factory brawl in southern China to fuel ethnic divisions. As many as 30 million migrant workers have lost their jobs during the global financial crisis, as demand from the U.S. and Europe vanishes, exacerbating already simmering social tensions.