Not to draw attention away from Iran and Honduras, but something serious and deadly is erupting in China. The western region of Xinjiang has become the site of ethnic clashes, sparked last month by fights between majority Hans-Chinese and Uighurs that took place in southern China.
We have word of 140 dead already, over 800 injured, and hundreds more arrested.
Eyewitnesses said the violence started on Sunday in Urumqi after a protest of a few hundred people grew to more than 1,000.
It's not yet clear if any of the security forces were amongst the dead. This has been one of the most serious demonstrations for over two decades, and certainly one of the deadliest that we know about. While you can rest assured that this is not the beginning of some velvet revolution, it is certainly a tragedy whenever so many are killed. And for what? That's not so clear, beyond the ethnic-tension and the desire amongst some to break away from China.
According to the Associated Press, the death toll is expected to rise. That's pretty incredible. I'm pretty confident that, from what we know, no demonstration in either Iran or Honduras has been met with nearly as much lethality. It certainly sounds like some serious firepower was used directly on the protesters.
Over 140 dead and over 800 injured. Compared to the estimates of the crowd..
About 1,000 to 3,000 Uighur demonstrators had gathered Sunday in the regional capital for a protest that apparently spun out of control. Accounts differed over what happened, but the violence seemed to have started when the crowd of protesters refused to disperse
Horrific numbers.