A protest of Uigurs (Muslim ethnic minority) in western China has left at least 129 dead and 816 wounded since the beginning of this Sunday.

The news agency Xinhua reports that the demonstrators took the streets protesting against the death of two of this Chinese ethnicity last week.

The police estimated that up to 3,000 people have left the streets of Urumqi (3,270 km from Beijing), capital of the autonomous region of Xinjiang. The city, with a population of 2.3 million people, is the site of highest concentration of Muslim population in China.

TV Networks show Chinese demonstrators break the shops and saw cars in the violent acts in the city. The local government says that the uprising was in response to the death of two Uighurs during the strike at a factory in the city of Shaoguan, in the same region.

The police announced this Monday that at least ten people were arrested accused of inciting the protests.
The Uighurs are a minority of Turkish origin which focuses predominantly Muslim in Northwest China. Many Uighurs of this region complain that they are marginalized economically and politically in their own land, which has rich reserves of natural gas and minerals.

There are between 15 million and 20 million Muslim in China, almost half of Xinjiang.

Via: Folha.