It was not immediately clear from the brief report by the official Xinhua news agency if any of the death sentences would be commuted, as sometimes happens in China.

Another person was give life imprisonment, Xinhua said. It gave no other details.

State television showed deserted streets and heavy security around the courthouse, which it said was closed for all other business.

Last month, China announced the first charges to be laid in connection with the unrest, with 21 people charged with murder, arson, robbery and damaging property during ethnic riots that erupted in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, on July 5.

In Xinjiang’s worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi, after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in southern China in June that left two Uighurs dead.

Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later.

The violence left 197 people dead, mostly Han Chinese, and wounded more than 1,600, according to official figures. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Chris Buckley and Alex Richardson)

www.alertnet.org

ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS IN EAST TURKISTAN Uyghur Foundation Stichting Oeigoeren Nederland Stichting Uighur Jurat Barat  Stichting Uyghur Oost-Turkestan Uyghur Logo Nederlanders Holland Europe HUMAN RIGHTS  Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Erkin Alptekin Rebiya Kadeer

The post China sentences six to death over Xinjiang riots appeared first on uighur.nl.

The Xinhua news agency said the latest protest occurred in the city centre at the entrance to Nanhu Square, where police were blocking about 1,000 protesters from entering. It did not give further details.

The brief report also said about 100 young protesters had massed on Jiefangnan Road near the Muslim quarter.

Earlier, an AFP journalist witnessed a separate protest involving about 1,000 demonstrators, most of themHan Chinese, who faced off with armed police, denouncing the government and throwing plastic bottles at security forces.

The demonstration took place about a block away from the Xinjiang region’s government headquarters in People’s Square, where mass protests involving tens of thousands erupted on Thursday.

The crowd repeatedly scuffled with riot police, shouting “Release him! Release him!” whenever they tried to subdue a protester who had challenged them.

At one point, protesters demanded the resignation of the regional Communist Party chief, yelling: “Wang Lequan, step down!”

Hundreds of regular and armed police reinforcements rushed to the scene and eventually dispersed the crowd, about one hour after the incident began. Not far from the scene, hundreds more security forces were on standby.

Armed police fanned out across the tense city on Friday, one day after tens of thousands of people protested over a series of mysterious syringe attacks that residents blame on the region’s Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group.

The tension comes two months after at least 197 people were killed in rioting on July 5, the worst ethnic violence seen in China in decades.

“The government is really lame. Everybody can see that now. It’s been two months and they still have not dealt with this properly. How can that be?” asked Wang Jinren, who watched Friday’s protest from his jade store.

“They have come up with no plan for dealing with these problems. They need to explain to the people how they are going to address this. But these problems are so big, maybe no one can solve them.”

During Friday’s confrontation near People’s Square, police using loudspeakers pleaded with the crowds to disperse.

“Friends, please listen. Urumqi’s safety situation has returned to normal.

“Please help us maintain stability by returning to your homes as soon as possible,” they said.

yahoonews

The post Police use tear gas at Urumqi protest: state media appeared first on uighur.nl.