EMPIRE STRIKES BACK .. Chinese troops quell rioting.Byline: TOM PETTIFOR THOUSANDS of stormtroopers swarm into a city square yesterday as China cracks down on ethnic riots that left 156 people dead and 1,000 hurt. After four days of bloody fighting, the state is no longer prepared to stand by as Han Chinese Han Chinese n. See Han1. and Muslim Uighurs slaughter each other in northwestern Xinjiang province. Paramilitary police poured into the capital Urumqi as officials warned that the killers "will be executed". In an unprecedented move, President Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (h  ` jĭn`tou`), 1942–, Chinese political leader, b. Jixi, Anhui prov. A hydroelectric engineering graduate (1965) of Qinghua Univ. left the G8 summit in
Italy early "due to the situation".
Authorities have restricted internet and mobile phone networks to stop further riots being organised. An air of menace hung over the city last night as groups of armed men dodged police and roamed the streets. Communist Party Communist party, in China Communist party, in China, ruling party of the world's most populous nation since 1949 and most important Communist party in the world since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. chief Li Zhi said: "Small groups of violent people have been arrested. Those who committed crimes with cruel means will be executed." CAPTION(S): CRACKDOWN Row upon row of paramilitary police line up in the capital Urumqi yesterday TRAPPED Locals watch troops |
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