BBC News
July 2, 2010

Amnesty International has challenged the official Chinese version of events in Xinjiang a year ago, when nearly 200 people were killed in ethnic clashes.

China blamed the violence in the regional capital Urumqi on the local ethnic Uighur population, saying most of the recorded dead were Han Chinese.

But the human rights group says police used unnecessary force against Uighurs, followed by mass arrests and torture.

The claim comes as thousands of CCTV cameras have been put up across Urumqi.

The cameras, which have a “riot-proof” protective shell, have been set up across the city, including at bus and railway stations, schools and shops.

Last year’s violence, China’s worst in decades, erupted on 5 July and only ended after huge numbers of troops were deployed.
Chinese special police show off their skills during a drill in Beijing (30 June 2010) China’s police have been staging drills to deal with any similar emergencies

Xinjiang, a resource-rich region that borders Central Asia, has more than eight million Uighurs.

Many are unhappy about the large influx of Han Chinese settlers, which they say has increasingly marginalised their interests and culture.

Amnesty International (AI) says it has newly gathered testimonies from Uighurs who fled China after the unrest.

They allege that demonstrators were attacked by the security forces, shot in the back or denied protection.     more …