200 to go on trial after Xinjiang riots

BEIJING (AP) – A state-run newspaper says 200 people will go on trial for involvement in the Xinjiang riots last month that killed nearly 200 people.

The China Daily said Monday that the trials were expected to start this week in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang and the site of China’s worst ethnic violence in decades, in which an additional 1,700 people were injured.

The rioting in Urumqi pitted Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs against members of China’s dominant Han ethnic group.

Since the riots, the government says life has largely returned to normal in the city, although officials remain wary of renewed outbreaks of violence.