Man arrested after posting rumors of ethnic conflict in NW China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-17 23:13

URUMQI - A man who allegedly spread online rumors of ethnic conflict in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been detained, a local police spokesman said Tuesday.

The spokesman for Aksu Prefecture said the man, surnamed Ya, posted an online report on January 29 describing a purported incident in which 500 young Uygurs held a protest after police supposedly ignored a murder.

The spokesman said that in his article, which remained online for three hours, Ya claimed that 16 people of Han nationality had beaten and killed a Uygur by throwing him from the second floor of a building in Xayar County, Aksu.

The police said that Ya, in his confession, said he fabricated the story after seeing people fighting in a local entertainment center the previous day.

The fighting was led a quarrel, in which six Uygur customers spoke loudly while playing games at a recreation center, and then fought with the center's staffs when the employees persuaded them to speak in an undertone.

Local police said people involved in that skirmish had been taken into custody.

Aksu is in western Xinjiang and Xayar County is about 1,400 km from the regional capital of Urumqi.