Massacre and mass arrests in Urumqi

Over the weekend, the Chinese government brutally suppressed a peaceful protest by Uighirs in Urumqi, Xinjiang, sparking off riots that killed at least 156 people and left at least 800 injured. Since then they have followed up the only way they know how: with repression and mass arrests. Almost 1,500 people have been rounded up by police, sparking further protests from their families. As in Tibet last year, the root of the problem is the colonisation of the region and cultural genocide of its inhabitants by China; Xinjiang's Uighurs face systematic discrimination in their own country, are denied the freedom to practice their religion, and are gradually being displaced and reduced to an underclass by Han immigrants from the rest of China. The old capital, Kashgar, is being "remodelled" in an effort to destroy Uighur culture - just like Lhasa. But unlike Tibet, there has so far been no international condemnation. The Chinese government is murdering its own citizens and engaging in widespread repression - and the world does nothing.