Facebook is being blocked in China over the Urumqi clashes.

Rediya Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress, explained “social media is critical to the Uighurs’ cause” in an exclusive AllFacebook interview earlier this week. Facebook wall posts were used to spread news after Twitter shut down in Urumqi, China, AllFacebook reported Sunday.
Read the rest of this entry »

Uighur women protested through the streets of Urumchi yesterday. According to the BBC, Uighur women and men were not armed and pleaded with the Chinese police force to release their sons, husbands, and fathers who were taken after Sunday’s riots. It’s reported that over 1,400 Uighurs were imprisoned in what has become the biggest protest in China since Tienanmen Square. Just hours after the Uighur protests, Han Chinese took to the streets. Witnesses say many carried knives, sticks, meat cleavers and wanted revenge.

What seems to have fallen through the cracks in main stream media is why these people are fighting. What exactly do the Uighurs want and how are they communicating?
Read the rest of this entry »