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Muslim and Chinese Students Clash, Dozens Injured
BEIJING, June 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - More than 30 students were injured at Changan University in Xian, Shaanxi province of China when Han Chinese and the Uygur Muslim students clashed last week, according to press reports seen in Beijing Saturday.
The clashes brought to light the simmering hostilities between the two ethnic groups and Chinese government attempts to crack down on a new Muslim separatist movement.
Students attending the university have reportedly said that there had been several run-ins between the two groups.
According to the Hong Kong-based Center for Human Rights and Democracy, the fight broke out when a group of drunken Han students passed by the Uygur dormitory, shouting "Xinjian pigs" and "go home to Xinjiang."
Around 80 Uygurs then retaliated by attacking the Chinese students resulting in a brawl. The center reported that three Muslim Uygurs were seriously injured.
Chinese security officials said that more than 300 riot police were called in to break up the fight. However, no arrests were made according to the officials. Eyewitnesses to the melee said that they have seen at least 10 Uygurs and 20 Chinese getting injured.
The Chinese students, on the contrary, claim that it were the Uygurs who first started the brawl. A local education official put the blame squarely on Muslims saying that they had been noisily singing all night disturbing other students and ruled out ethnic or religious reasons behind the clashes..
In December six Muslims were killed in Shandong after Muslims protested a "Muslim pork" sign at a Han butcher shop and the hanging of a pig's head outside a local mosque.
Beijing is cracking down severely on Muslim separatists who want an independent homeland in Xinjiang.
Recently it handed down death sentences and long prison terms on Muslim activists. The Chinese government is also trying to reduce the majority population of Muslims in Xinjiang by relocating thousands of Han Chinese to the province.
Human rights organizations have reportedly expressed fears that China may be backing anti-Muslim activities on purpose to truncate the budding separatist movement.
A recent anti-crime campaign, dubbed "Strike Hard" may also be used to eliminate Beijing Muslim political opponents, particularly in Tibet and in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang where at least two ethnic Uygurs were sentenced to death last month for separatism, human rights groups said.
The nationwide "strike hard" against crime campaign was launched by President Jiang Zemin. At least 1,000 people have been put to death during the crackdown, according to diplomats in Beijing who have been compiling figures based on reports in the official press.
The actual figures though are thought to be far higher because not all executions are reported in the state press.
According to official data, China has 20 million Muslims. Most of them are concentrated in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai regions. Smaller Muslim communities can also be found throughout China. In late 1940's Muslims had declared an independent East Turkistan Republic but their aspirations were crushed the Chinese army brought the province under its firm control in 1949.
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