Fresh Ethnic Tension in Xinjiang; 15 Arrested

Following syringe attacks, a fresh ethnic protest broke out in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which was torn by deadly rioting in July that left nearly 200 dead.

Fifteen people have been detained for allegedly stabbing people with tainted syringes in ethnically motivated attacks that have led to protests Thursday in northwest China, state-run media and witnesses said.

The state run Xinhua reported that of the 15 detained, four have been prosecuted.
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According to media reports which quoted locals, the stabbings, allegedly by Uyghurs,  were ethnically inspired and that government text messages to citizens have warned that the syringes contained an unknown disease.

The syringe attack led to protests on Thursday in the streets of Urumqi, Xinjiang region’s capital.

CNN quoted one witness to the Thursday protests, an art gallery director, as saying that thousands of people stormed

“People are protesting here right now. It’s all Han people,” he said, declining to give his name because of safety reasons. “Since August 3, the Uyghurs have been stabbing the Hans with needles with an unknown virus. People are all very scared.”

However, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry expressed unawareness about the protests.

“I have not yet received news of this, but the Chinese government is capable of upholding stability and social unity,” Jiang Yu said.

According to official news agency, Han ethnic group are also protesting at deteriorating law and order in the city