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Uighurs say the deadly clashes were sparked by prevailing discrimination and cultural and religious controls in Xinjiang region. |
BEIJING — At least three people were killed Sunday, July 5, and many wounded in deadly clashes in Muslim-majority Xinjiang region over cultural and religious controls imposed by China.
"It started as a few hundred, and then there were easily over a thousand involved," an eye-witness told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
He said protestors marched through the streets of regional capital Urumqi, overturning traffic and smashing buses.
Thousands of police and anti-riot troops swept through the city, using tear-gas and high-pressure water hoses to disperse the crowds.
"Now the whole city is on lock-down," said the witness.
Pictures posted by an overseas Chinese news website, Boxun (peacehall.com), showed hundreds of civilians pressed against a row of police, burning wreckage on a city street, and anti-riot police in shields and helmets.
Three people were killed and more than 20 others wounded in the clashes, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
"The regional government did not say how many people were involved in the unrest, but said they illegally gathered in several downtown places and engaged in beating, smashing, looting and burning," Xinhua said.
"The government sent police to disperse the crowd and arrested some rioters."
Xinhua said that the dead were "three ordinary people of the Han ethnic group".
"More than 20 others were injured in the incident and many motor vehicles were burned."
The official reports did not specify the ethnicity of those involved in the unrest, or the reasons behind it.
Discrimination
Advocates of Uighur Muslims said the protests were sparked by prevailing discrimination and cultural and religious controls in their region.
"There were thousands of people shouting to stop ethnic discrimination, demanding an explanation," said Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the Germany-based World Uighur Congress.
"This anger has been growing for a long time."
Xinjiang and its Uighur Muslims, a Turkish-speaking minority of more than eight million, continue to be the subject of massive security crackdowns.
Muslims accuses the government of settling millions of ethnic Han in their territory with the ultimate goal of obliterating its identity and culture.
They also cite a recent government plan that has brought the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in Xinjiang schools, replacing their local dialect.
Beijing views the vast region as an invaluable asset because of its crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its large oil and gas reserves.
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