Chinese go online to vent ire at Xinjiang unrest

By Ben Blanchard

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese are venting their anger online after ethnic violence in the Muslim region of Xinjiang left at least 156 dead but are playing a cat-and-mouse game with censors who appear to be removing some posts and blogs.

Many of the comments demanded swift punishment for those involved, echoing remarks in official state media blaming exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer for masterminding the riots in the regional capital of Urumqi on Sunday.

"Destroy the conspiracy, strike hard against these saboteurs, and strike even more fiercely than before," said an anonymous posting on a blog on www.sina.com.cn by a person known as "Chang Qing."

Yet authorities have been working fast to remove comments about the violence, apparently to prevent ethnic hatred from spreading or Internet users questioning government policies towards regions populated by ethnic minorities.

Along with Tibet, Xinjiang is one of the most politically sensitive regions in China and Beijing has tried to control online debate about the violence across China.

Many blogs have simply posted articles from the domestic media about the unrest, but in the section where readers are invited to leave their thoughts is written: "There are no comments at this time" -- unusual, given the popularity of blogs in China with 300 million Internet users.

Some sites which had posted graphic images of beaten and bloody bodies, purportedly taken during or after the riots, also had them swiftly removed.

The government has cut access to the Internet in Urumqi, the city's Communist Party Chief Li Zhi said on Tuesday, to stop it being used to fuel further violence.