clipped from: www.guardian.co.uk Protests over deaths of workers turn violent as mobs burn buses and attack residents from ethnic minorities in western province
The western Chinese region of Xinjiang experienced the biggest display of ethnic unrest in recent memory today as thousands of Muslim Uighurs took to the streets in protest.
There's a terrible situation today. There were big ethnic riots - there was a lot of fighting," said one Han resident.
"It's very dangerous so you can't go into the centre at all. It's the Uighurs causing violence," complained a Han businessman, who said he was unable to get home because of the blocks.
Muslim Uighurs are the indigenous ethnic majority of Xinjiang, but the region has experienced an influx of Han Chinese seeking to profit from the region's oil and gas resources, which has stirred up ethnic resentment.