Needle unrest sweeps Xinjiang

Published: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:30:00

China's restive Xinjiang region has been hit by more unrest after people took to the streets following reported attacks involving hypodermic syringe needles. Rumours have raged across China in recent weeks of a spate of attacks upon ethnic Han Chinese by Aids patients and their syringes. Hundreds of Han Chinese reportedly gathered in the provincial capital Urumqi on Thursday to protest over the attacks.

According to the Xinhua state news agency, 15 people, all thought to be ethnic Uighurs, have been arrested in connection with the alleged needle attacks. Tensions between the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs native to Xinjiang and the ethnic Chinese that dominate Urumqi escalated into riots in July. On July 5th ethnic Uighurs launched attacks across the Han-dominated Urumqi, followed by repsrisal attacks in the following days.

Chinese security forces are already on a heightened level of alert as the 60th anniversary of the Communist party coming to power approaches.

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