Radio Free Asia is reporting on a riot sparked by tensions between Han Chinese and Hui Muslims in Ningjin County, Shandong:
Villagers in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong said on Thursday that local police “stood by and watched” during ethnic clashes last weekend in which their homes and shops were smashed up and many of them beaten, with an estimated 15 people sent to hospital.
A local official confirmed the rioting, sparked over the weekend by a dispute between local Han Chinese residents and Hui Muslims in Ningjin county, had taken place.
“There was quite a lot of damage, and there is a bit of a situation here,” said the official, who answered the phone at government offices in Ningjin county’s Changguan township. “Right now the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party and the government are working out what to do about it.”
