Revenge,hate drive Han hunt for Uighurs

Outnumbered riot police used tear gas to try to disperse thousands of angry protesters who flooded the capital of the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

In a sign of government anxiety about the unrest,the citys Communist Party boss Li Zhi took to the streets to plead with them to return home,and overnight traffic restrictions originally announced as a curfew came into effect to halt the violence,in which many people were injured.

Security forces intervened to stop casualties,breaking up a battle between hundreds of rock-throwing Han and Uighurs and forcing a Han mob to leave a building they stormed in a Uighur area. There were no reports of deaths.

But riot police stood warily by as crowds vented their anger by throwing rocks at a mosque,and smashing shops and restaurants owned by Uighurs,a Turkic people who are largely Islamic and share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia.

They attacked us. Now its our turn to attack them, a Han man in the crowd said.

The crowd had armed themselves with an improvised arsenal of meat cleavers,metal rods and spades seized from building sites,rocks and wooden clubs,and the most extreme shouted kill them and exterminate the Uighurs.

Uighurs had emptied out of the streets of Urumqi late on Tuesday,as the number and violence of Han protesters grew. But earlier in the day,hundreds came out to demonstrate against the government crackdown in the wake of Sundays riots,which they say involved an indiscriminate sweep of Uighur areas.

Many were women,wailing and waving the identity cards of husbands,brothers or sons they say were arbitrarily seized. My husband was taken away yesterday by police. They didnt say why. They just took him away, a woman who identified herself as Maliya told Reuters. They vowed to keep up their defiance.

Abdul Ali,a Uighur man in his 20s who had taken off his shirt,held up his clenched fist. Theyve been arresting us for no reason,and its time for us to fight back, he said.

Ali said three of his brothers and a sister were among 1,434 suspects taken into custody. Of the 156 killed,27 were women.