The government has raised the official death toll from last weekend’s violence in Urumqi to 184 from 156, according to AP. The new report also gives demographic information about the victims:
Xinhua News Agency reported Friday that the dead included 137 people — 111 men and 26 women — from the dominant ethnic Han Chinese group. The agency says the other fatalities include 46 Uighurs and one man from the Hui ethnic group. Xinhua says the Uighur victims include 45 men and one woman.
It is the first time China’s government has given an ethnic breakdown in the riots.
Since the rioting on Sunday, Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, has been under tight security with thousands of police and troops patrolling the streets.
Update: See also “Death Toll Debated In China’s Rioting” from the Washington Post:
Of the dead, 137 were Han Chinese, 46 were Uighur and one was part of the Hui Muslim minority group. But other details are scarce.
Local officials have declined to release information about how the victims died or were hurt.
Nearly all of the 150 or so police snapshots of the dead appear to be of Han Chinese. Most have gashes or cuts on their heads. Only about 10 appear to be Uighur, at least three with apparent bullet wounds near their hearts — a detail that lends credence to charges by Uighur leaders that Chinese national security forces fired into the crowd of protesters.
But the faces of several victims were so swollen or injured that they were unrecognizable. At least three bodies were completely burned.
