Tension between the Uighurs and ethnic Han Chinese has left 140 dead
More than 140 people are dead following protests in Urumqi, capital of China’s western Xinjiang region. Much of Xinjiang is home Uighurs, a Muslim minority ethnically related to other Turkic Central Asians, such as Uzbeks and Kazakhs. Uighurs are discriminated against in China, and tensions in Xinjiang have risen as more and more ethnic Han Chinese are settled there. Chinese state authorities claim the protesters were violent and armed with knives and batons, while Uighur exiles say the protest was peaceful until Chinese security forces broke it up with guns and cattle prods.