China to issue arrest warrants for riots
URUMQI, China - An investigation into ethnic riots that left 192 people dead in China’s restive Western region has been completed, and arrest warrants will be issued soon, the chief prosecutor for Xinjiang said yesterday.
Chinese authorities also got more aggressive in blocking foreign media from working in Urumqi, the regional capital where the July 5 riots occurred.
Foreign photographers who tried to shoot pictures of the thousands of troops guarding the city were told to put down their cameras and leave the area.
The tense atmosphere follows the worst ethnic violence in the western region of Xinjiang in decades. The unrest had kicked off with a protest July 5 by Muslim Uighurs that spiraled into violence against Han Chinese, the nation’s ethnic majority.
Rioters roamed the streets, beating people, smashing windows, and burning cars. In subsequent days, groups of Han Chinese launched revenge attacks. The city has been relatively peaceful in the past week amid extremely tight security.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that 192 people died, 1,721 were wounded, and 881 people were still in hospitals.
Yesterday, chief prosecutor Hamsi Mamuti said the first group of suspects had been identified, according to Xinhua.
The report did not say how many would be arrested, but Li Zhi, the highest-ranking Communist Party official in Urumqi, said last week that those found guilty of the most serious crimes could be executed.
He added that many of the rioters didn’t understand what they were doing and would be treated leniently.
