Recalling the nightmare: witnesses' account of Xinjiang riot

• Source: Xinhua
• [19:21 July 06 2009]
• Comments

SCENES WITNESSED BY XINHUA REPORTERS

People began to gather in the Urumqi People's Square at 6:20 p.m. Sunday, and some started smashing and looting at about 8 p.m..

Xinhua reporters saw at about 10 p.m. at the crossing of Xinhua South Road and Tianchi Road that a police station was damaged. A group of young man, appearing to be from ethnic minorities, were chanting some slogans and wielding wooden clubs, while several others were distributing hoes.

Then rioters destroyed barriers on the road and began chasing the Hans. Many bus windows were smashed. Some Han passengers were surrounded and beaten the sooner they got off the bus, many with blood dripping down their faces.

Under a viaduct on the Tuanjie road, Xinhua reporters saw a man killed by rioters, and some steps away, a dead woman carrying a handbag lay on her stomach.

A big wine shop was torched. In the blaze, window glass blew with big noises. A taxi stopped by rioters parked on the road, while a Han driver who was covered by blood squeezed inside. Witnesses couldn't say for sure whether he was alive.