China erects Great Firewall around news of ethnic riots

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 07 July 2009 01:09

Business IT - Security

The Chinese government has blocked Internet access in order to control the spread of news about riots in Xinjiang, an "autonomous region" in the northwest corner of the vast country.

The riots began late Saturday night in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

Xinjiang, located west of Mongolia on China's northern border, is home to the Uighurs (aka Uygurs, depending on which news source you read), a Moslem ethnic group.

The group recently gained attention when the U.S. released some Uighurs it had been holding at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.

According to locals, the riots broke out after a Uighur worker tried to force himself on an ethnic Han Chinese woman in the toy factory where they both worked.

But the government said the resulting brawl was used as a pretext by Uighur separatists to undermine stability in the region.

"The unrest is a pre-empted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws in the country," said a government statement.

At least 140 people were reported killed in the riots, with an additional 828 injured.

For the Chinese government's clampdown on the news, see Page 2.