The July 2009 Ürümqi riots were a series of violent riots over several days that broke out on 5 July 2009 in Ürümqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, China. Protests calling for a full investigation into the Shaoguan incident, a brawl in southern China several days earlier in which two Uyghurs had been killed, escalated into violence. During the first day's rioting mainly Han ("ethnic Chinese") were targeted; two days later hundreds of Han people gathered and clashed with both police and Uyghurs. Chinese officials said that a total of 197 people died, with 1,721 others injured and considerable damage to property; Uyghur groups say the death toll is higher than officially disclosed. Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of arrests and disappearances in the wake of the riots. Rioting began when the police confronted the march, but observers disagree on what caused the protests to become violent. The Chinese central government alleges that the riots themselves were planned from abroad by the World Uyghur Congress and its leader Rebiya Kadeer, while Kadeer denies fomenting the violence in her struggle for her people's right to self-determination. Uyghur groups claim that the escalation was caused by the police's use of excessive force. Chinese media coverage of the Ürümqi riots was extensive.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1687:
The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton was first published, describing his laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
1950:
The Israeli Knesset enacted the Law of Return, granting Jews around the world the right to migrate to and settle in Israel and gain citizenship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Return
1996:
A cloned sheep named Dolly, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, was born at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, Scotland near Edinburgh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_%28sheep%29
2004:
Indonesia held its first direct presidential elections; Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would later be elected president during the second round of the elections on September 20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_presidential_election%2C_2004
2006:
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting hours after North Korea reportedly tested at least seven separate missiles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_Korean_missile_test
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
menagerie (n): 1. A collection of live wild animals on exhibition. 2. A diverse or miscellaneous group http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/menagerie
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel. --Jean Cocteau http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau
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