By KUNA,
Tokyo : Police have arrested 1,434 people in connection with Sunday night’s riot in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday, citing official sources. At least 156 people died and other 1,080 injured in the riot, the “deadliest riot since New China was founded in 1949,” it said. Li Zhi, the Communist Party of China chief of Urumqi vowed severe punishment for the rioters, accusing them of violating laws and harming the fundamental interests of all Chinese ethnic groups, according to Xinhua. The police have started interrogations with the suspects, said Li. He also said Internet was cut in parts of Urumqi to prevent violence from spreading. “Chinese authorities have evidence that separatist World Uyghur Congress leader Rebiya Kadeer used the Internet and other means of communication to mastermind the riot,” he said. According to Xinhua, Xinjiang police had evidence that Rebiya Kadeer masterminded the Sunday riot, and had obtained recordings of calls between overseas Eastern Turkestan groups and their accomplices in the country. Kadeer, a former businesswoman in China, was detained in 1999 on charges of harming national security. She was released on bail in March 2005 to seek medical treatment in the United States.
Sunday’s unrest followed a protest to denounce the government’s handling of a clash between Uygur and Han ethnic workers in a toy factory in southern China late June.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing on Tuesday that the violence is not a peaceful protest, but “an evil killing, fire setting and looting.” “Anybody calling the violence a peaceful protest is to turn black into white in an attempt to mislead the public,” Qin was quoted as telling at a press conference.
The Chinese government repeatedly says Muslim separatists pose one of the biggest threat to the country by planning a series of terror attacks.
Xinjiang, where 8.5 million Uygur Muslims live with their own culture and language, has been under China’s control since 1949. Muslim separatists have waged a low-level campaign against Chinese rule for decades.