More Than 150 Dead in China Protests

Chinese state media are reporting more than 150 people dead and more than 800 injured in what the China Daily describes as a riot on the part of Uighur “outlaws.” Those figures and the nature of the protests are fiercely disputed by Uighur groups abroad, which say police fired on peaceful demonstrators.

Uighurs are a minority ethnic group of Muslims who live mostly in China’s northwest frontier.

BBC:

Several hundred people were arrested after a protest, in the city of Urumqi on Sunday, turned violent.

Beijing says Uighurs went on the rampage but one exiled Uighur leader says police fired on students.

The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month.

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Xinhua

This photo appeared in the China Daily on Monday, bearing the caption: “Firefighters put out a fire in Dawannanlu Street in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on July 5, 2009.”